Mission in Columbia
by chloewren
Summary: Ranger is "in the wind" and the Rangemen have to go to Columbia to rescue Stephanie. Told from the guys POV. They are as they are in the books- ex-soldiers and mercenaries. Rating is for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

Mission in Columbia

Chapter 1

Ram had been in the tree for hours, his face caked with dirt , his rifle slick with sweat. He sat on the branch without moving, almost preternaturally calm and quiet. He kept the target within the scope of his rifle. He was ready to take the shot, and he never missed. He was just waiting on word from Tank.

Woody's POV

Bobby, Tank, Junior, and I were creeping silently through the Columbian jungle, invisible in our black clothes, each movement completely silent. Each of us had at least two guns and a knife, and, well, hands. We were lethal with our hands; having been trained in hand to hand kill techniques in Special Forces. We all did Black Ops assignments; where the CIA disavowed any knowledge of us, and if things went to shit, we were on our own. None of us liked killing, but we didn't hesitate to kill someone to stay alive. Or to complete the mission.

Our lives with Rangeman were more stable now, but none of us had lost our battle-honed instincts or skills. We were huge, muscular, and lethal and scary.

We don't really do black ops stuff anymore. Well, not as much anyway. We had been forced into this mission. Javier Suarez was a Columbian drug lord who hated Ranger because Ranger had killed his son on a past CIA mission. Never mind that his son dealt black tar heroin and had personally ordered the deaths of a hundred people, Javier was still a father who wanted revenge.

Apparently, Javier had spent years concocting a plan to exact revenge on Ranger. He knew Ranger was so tough as to be almost indestructible. After all, Ranger, Tank, and Bobby had been captured and tortured for weeks by a Columbian warlord and still hadn't spilled their intelligence. Hurting Ranger physically was next to impossible.

So Javier had come to Trenton, NJ, because he had heard that Ranger had a business there. Javier knew there was no penetrating the security of Rangeman to get to Ranger. Even if he killed one of Ranger's employees, another would take over. No, Javier saw only one way to get Ranger's compliance. He kidnapped the only other person who seemed to matter to Ranger-Stephanie. How he knew that Ranger was "in the wind" and incommunicado was a mystery. It was up to us at Rangeman to get her back.

No one had suspected anything when Stephanie had gone after another of her low level skips. In fact, things had been so quiet for Stephanie that she had no Rangeman bodyguards with her on skips. She was in a Rangeman vehicle with tracker, and she had a purse tracking device. She had gone after Chester Manriquez, a shoplifter, and disappeared from Rangeman tracking systems. We had had been frantically searching for her until Javier called bragging about the abduction. Ranger comes to him or Stephanie dies. When put like that, we had no choice.

We all knew that Ranger loved Steph; well, as much as Ranger could love anyone. We all knew that he tried to distance himself from her ; but he cared for her despite himself. He was very protective of her; and he would never let her get hurt; especially hurt because of him. Despite our hard exteriors, we loved her too. Ranger had been gone for awhile, so deep in the wind that we weren't even sure our frantic messages would get to him. Who knew if Ranger could get there in time. So we had no choice but to go to Columbia to rescue her ourselves.

Bobby's POV

So now we were back skulking around in the fucking hot jungle, sweaty and stinking, scouting and spying on Javier. Do the job, kill the guy, we get Stephanie, and get the hell out of this god-forsaken hellhole. Truth be told, part of me missed this life. No, not the stench of the jungle, but the finely tuned reflexes, the confidence in knowing you can survive anything, the feel of the power of weapons in my hands. No, I am not a sicko; I don't like killing people. I have killed a few; and they were bad people who deserved killing. Besides, it was them or me; and well, it turned out to be them. But there WAS something to be said for being powerful and completely self-reliant and able to take care of any situation.

I knew how to kill, but I also knew how to heal. I had combat medic training and had been the military equivalent of a paramedic. I could be a paramedic in the civilian world, but working at Rangeman pays better and is much more interesting.

Junior was on point, and he stopped and signaled us to spread out around the palatial estate of Javier Suarez, drug dealer extraordinaire and incredibly vicious bastard. We had to kill him, then find Stephanie. None of us was stupid, though. We all knew that after we eliminated one more drug dealer from the world, we would have to find Stephanie before his men killed her. And us.

Stephanie had been the perfect tool to use to get Ranger involved with the Columbian underworld. She was the only one who had penetrated Ranger's isolation and gotten under his skin and into his heart. I couldn't help but smile when I thought of Steph. She was pretty ballsy; being a bounty hunter with almost no apprehension or defense skills. She usually got her man, purely by accident, and had rolled in more noxious substances than I ever had. She was independent and curious and constantly got herself in over her head. She had been injured so many times she was on a first name basis with most of the doctors in the Trenton ER. As the Rangeman medic, I was usually the one to patch her up or stitch her up on those occasions that she charmed one of us into not taking her to the hospital.

Steph was spunky and independent, and very hot. She was funny and kept us all amused with her antics and her car destruction. Ranger had felt protective of her almost from the day he met her; even when keeping his distance. He gave her a cushy job at Rangeman. She worked hard, yes; but it was a job just about anyone could do. He gave her the job so he wouldn't have to worry about her not having money for food or rent and so he could keep an eye on her. He also gave her several cars equipped with tracking devices so we could keep an eye on her.

She kept us frustrated with her refusals to have surveillance, her refusal to do what she was told, and her aptitude for getting into trouble. She was pretty white bread, but with an independent streak. I looked down at my gun and chuckled. I saw a gun as a part of me; something I could use and feel comfortable with. Steph HATED guns and never loaded hers; she didn't even wear one when working at Rangeman even through employees are required to.

Being her bodyguard was hell, as she was always trying to give us the slip. And whoever lost Stephanie on their watch was in deep shit with Ranger. I liked Steph, and all of us at Rangeman felt protective of her. She was a pain in the ass sometimes, but all of us guys liked her- she made us laugh. There wasn't much laughter in our world. She was in some ways vulnerable and helpless and very sweet. She brought out the testosterone in all of us.

I snapped myself out of my reverie and alerted myself to the current situation, which sucked. We had to get to the house and wait for Ram to shoot shot Javier. Then, we had to get Stephanie and get the hell out of Dodge; all without getting caught by Javier's thugs. I crept around the back of the building and snuck up on the guard waiting there. He hadn't even turned before I grabbed his neck and jerked it until I heard the loud snap. He fell without even making a sound. I was just as lethal with my hands as I was with a weapon. I waited there until my radio gave one, then two, then three, short clicks, indicating that Tank, Woody , and Junior had dispatched their targets as well. Over the radio, I heard soundless whispers. One in position, then the other guys reported their readiness.

Ram's POV

It had been another hour at least and my muscles were stiff from sitting still for so long. The target had never been outside of the sights of my rifle and my finger rested lightly on the trigger, ready to go at the signal. The voice, though almost soundless, seemed deafening in the quiet night. " Ram, fire when shot is clear" I took a deep breath and tried to calm the adrenaline shooting through my body at finally getting the order to take out my target. I didn't like killing, but I liked shooting. I liked that whatever I shot, I hit. If what I happened to hit was an evil bastard, all the better.

I was about 200 yards away from the target; but had a clean shot through the branches of the trees. I took another slow, deep breath and felt the calm settle over me. "10-4 Ram, taking shot." Snipers almost always went for a clear headshot. No risk of hitting a Kevlar vest with a headshot. I got Javier's head in the crosshairs of my rifle and my finger gently squeezed the trigger. There was minute recoil and a sharp thump as the bullet left my rifle. Seconds later, I saw the bullet go exactly where I sent it- the center of Javier's head. I saw him stiffen, then collapse-dead instantly. " Target eliminated", I whispered into the radio and quickly dis-assembled the rifle. Javier's men would be after us instantly, so I had to get out quickly and quietly. Quick and quiet were my specialties. I scrambled thorough the brush for awhile to lose anyone who might be tailing me; then doubled back to meet the guys at Javier's house. They had eliminated the outside guards, and were watching the other guards pouring out of the house intent on finding Javier's murderer.

Tank's POV

When the guards had left the main house, we entered it figuring that was where he kept Stephanie. I was seriously pissed off. Drug lords could fuck with Ranger all they wanted; he could handle it. But fucking with someone he loves to get back at him was evil. Stephanie was relatively helpless. I was glad Javier was dead; and I was disappointed I hadn't been the one to pull the trigger. I didn't exactly LIKE to kill, but he had no compunction about doing it when necessary. Hell, change that, I DO like to kill when what I am killing is an evil soulless bastard who himself has killed hundreds of innocent people. And some people seriously deserve to be killed, like when they fuck with Stephanie.

I wanted to yell out to Stephanie, but I knew we had to be careful and quiet. We all split up, and cleared a section of the huge house, guns resting comfortably in our hands. I heard the guys clearing the rooms and then set about figuring out where the hell Stephanie was.

When I first met Steph, I thought she was an annoying little white girl who foolishly got into trouble and constantly needed Ranger to rescue her from a situation she shouldn't have been in. Her complete inability to listen to orders or carry a gun clashed with my military ways. She was completely inept when they met and I knew Ranger was amused by her. She brought out his protective instincts. I tolerated her because she amused Ranger and he told me to tolerate her I always follow orders. Since then, I have discovered that, although she is still often foolish and gets in over her head, and still often needs to be rescued; she was also brave and independent and funny and sweet. Now I thought of her like a little sister who always needed protecting. She amused me and I liked her. Any and all of us guys at Rangeman would die for her. I turned my head at the sound of Junior's voice. "Guys, look here."

Junior's POV

Once we cleared the main house, we started looking around for Stephanie. I didn't see her; but something caught my eye- a glint in the dim light. "Guys, look here" we all huddled around Steph's cellphone; which she had dropped here as a clue. Ok, maybe she just dropped it. Not sure she was saavy enough to leave it as a clue- bu, hey, there it was. "Ok, she's here somewhere." But where the fuck was she? The estate was huge with several outbuildings. We searched every cranny of the closest outbuilding and headed out the door. Just over the back threshold, I saw a scrap of black fabric on the ground. It was black with a maroon "R" on it. " Shit." She was leaving us clues. She'd obviously ripped it off and dropped it for us to follow." Good girl, Steph," I whispered. Ranger would be proud of her for remembering to leave clues. Hell, we were all proud of her for it. My mind refused to acknowledge the other possibility- that it had been ripped off of her. Once I found the cloth, we all fanned out and looked for more clues.

About two hundred yards away I found a piece of cellophane that said "stycak". I smiled despite myself. Steph ate Tastycakes constantly and probably had an old wrapper in her pocket. Only Steph would leave an old Tastycake wrapper as a clue. I couldn't believe with all the damn Tastycakes and donuts she ate that she didn't weigh 200 pounds. And she hated to run or work out. But she must have a really fast metabolism since she wasn't overweight.

I have had some troubles of my own with Steph. She had gotten away from me on two different occasions when I was assigned to guard her. Luckily, she hadn't gotten into trouble when I lost her, and she always apologized. She was so sweet and nice that none of us could stay mad at her. And we let her get away with far more than we should security-wise because she was so damn sweet, and curious and independent. Also, we were afraid that if we pissed her off she'd complain to Ranger and then we'd get a week of boring monitor duty. That was the hard part of guarding Steph. You couldn't let her get hurt; but you also couldn't stop her from doing things that would get her hurt. So you just followed her and hoped for the fucking best. Yet, I couldn't help but like her despite myself. As one of her bodyguards, it was my job to take a bullet for her if necessary. I would because it was my job, but also because I really liked her and couldn't stand the thought of her in pain.

I still didn't like being assigned to guard her because I knew she'd give me problems; but I liked her like a pesky little sister. She was the only woman most of us associated with regularly. Hell, most of us sucked at relationships with women. None of us had personalities or lifestyles that lent themselves to relationships; we mostly only needed women for sex. Stephanie was the only women many of us had feelings for and she brought out the masculine protective instinct in all of us.

Another 100 yards away, Woody found another scrap of cloth with "an" on it; along with some blood. We saw the blood and almost went ballistic. Tank forced us to calm down. "Man, we have to stay calm. We have to be calm if we are going to find her." He looked at me and promised, "After we find her, you can kill all the rest of those fuckers." We walked searching the ground for another clue. We are all expert trackers, but Steph made it easier and quicker for us. Another hundred yards and we found the rest of the tastycake wrapper just a few feet from a small shed. The wrapper was in a bigger puddle of blood-Steph's blood. Ok, she was hurt- hurt meant still alive. I saw Woody's face tighten when he saw the blood. We all froze when we heard a low moan. "Stephanie!" I yelled, not caring now about noise. We ran to the shed and broke down the door. It was almost pitch black inside and I could barely make out the figures on the ground.

Bobby's POV

We broke into the shed and shined our lights around. Stephanie- oh, shit, is that really Stephanie- was lying on the floor, unmoving. We all ran to her and I dropped to her side. A guard was lying dead next to her and she held a gun in her badly shaking hand. Tank carefully took the gun from her hand. "Watch out, she mumbled. I got his gun but he might get up." I looked at the guard with the bullet hole in his head. "Steph, its ok. He's dead. He can't hurt you."

Stephanie's face was swollen and blackened from bruises and a huge black eye. Her eyes were unfocused and glazed and she seemed semi-conscious. Her wrists were bloody and with deep gashes from her struggling against the handcuffs. She had a knife wound in her upper arm and bruises all over her abdomen. She was shivering uncontrollably, from the cold and shock. I saw the exact moment that the guys noticed that her shirt was torn and tattered, exposing deep scratches on her breasts. Woody looked like he would explode. Then, he just rummaged through his pack and pulled out a button shirt and gently wrapped her in it.

Her eyes finally focused on me, "Bobby? I killed him. I had to." She seemed upset about it. See, that is why she's sweet. I would never understand this about her. She gave a fucking criminal what he deserved and she feels guilty about it. She had no reason to feel guilty. He deserved to die. Any of us would have killed him far more painfully for touching her. But she was upset, so I tried to calm her. "Don't think about him, sweetheart, lets take care of you."

I could see all the guys watching helplessly while I checked over her. They wanted to help her, but seemed to have no clue what to do. The wound on her arm was deep and it looked infected. But I was more concerned about the massive bruising on her abdomen. It was purple and hard and there was probably some internal bleeding. I touched as gently as I could, and she yelled and curled up in pain. "Sorry, honey, I know that hurt. I just need to see if there is internal bleeding." Her eyes were still glazed and I doubt she understood what I was saying but my voice seemed to calm her; so I just kept talking- saying soothing stuff over and over again. I put the BP cuff on her uninjured arm and pumped it up. Her blood pressure was so low I was amazed she was conscious. Her face was flushed and her face was hot-probably a fever from infection.

Everyone's attention was momentarily distracted when Ram came through the door. He had evaded Javier's men and rendezvoused with us. "Did you find her- Oh fuck, he said as he saw the shape she was in. Steph started rambling, not making any sense; her voice starting to rise in panic. I was trying to disinfect her wound for all the good that would do now- and bandage it.

All of the guys wanted to help; but seemed paralyzed by their uncertainty. Have I mentioned that none of us is particularly comfortable with women? We aren't great at talking to women, hell, we weren't talkers at all. Truth is, we weren't really sure how to handle women- other than having sex with them. Of course, we knew we had to be careful what we said around them, we were polite and all but none of us was really understood women or why they thought as they did. Sometimes, not even with Stephanie. Oh, we all care about her; but we aren't sure how to deal with her sometimes. She was an enigma for all of us. She was really hot, and we were all healthy, powerful guys, and we weren't dead, so of course we noticed how hot she is. But we all knew she was Ranger's, so we treated her like a little sister. As much as we loved her, we sometimes treated her like she was a volatile bomb that we didn't want to go off in our faces if we did or said the wrong thing.

Finally, Ram crouched down on her other side and said, " What can I do ?" I said, " I am going to have to clean out this wound and it is going to hurt her like hell. " "Can't you give her something for the pain" he whispered. "No, not when she's in this condition. She's too weak. I can't risk it." "Well, it would just take one blow." he wanted to knock her out. Knocking her out would be best for her- she wouldn't feel the pain. But none of us could bear to hit her, especially after the violence that she had already been through.

Ram's POV

Steph looked at me finally, like she just noticed me sitting in front of her. "Ram?" She looked at me with glazed , confused eyes. Fuck. I had no fucking idea what to say when a woman was upset. I was a fighter, not a lover. But Steph's tortured eyes focusing on me just made me want to do anything to protect her. "Ram? Ididn'tmeantokillthatguy.But IhadtoI hadto hewas goingtokillmeandhewashurtingmeand Ihadtokillhim.". Her words were racing, not even a breath between them, and hervoice was starting to rise in hysteria. Bobby met my eyes and we shared an expression of bewilderment. Steph seemed really upset that she killed a fucking criminal who was about to rape her. There was definitely no understanding women. The bastard deserved to die. I wished I could kill him again. But she was rambling and her voice was rising in panic. Fuck. I took her other hand and stroked it gently. "Steph, forget about him. Focus on me. Look at me , Sweetheart. Its ok, just look at me. " I spoke softly, saying the same thing over and over, nonsense really, but it seemed to calm her.

Bobby was working on her wound and she started to moan and tried to pull away. "Ram. It hurts. It hurts." " Shh. I held her arm hard so she couldn't pull away from Bobby. She was starting to cry from the pain, and it made me start to panic. Ok, I absolutely cannot handle tears. I fucking HATE when a woman cries. Apparently, I especially hate when Stephanie cries. This was the first time I had seen her cry. After all the physical injuries she'd had; she NEVER cried. So if she was crying now…. She was crying and breathing in loud, jerky gasps; trying to hold her breath against the pain. Her face was red and flushed and hot. "Look at me, Steph." She was gasping for air from holding her breath against the pain. "Ram, it hurts and I can't breathe." I tried to calm her. "Stephanie!" I said firmly, " yes you can. Look at me!" Just focus on me. Take deep breaths. In and out. That's it. Deep breaths. That's it." Her eyes never left mine. I focused on keeping my breathing calm and that calmed hers, too. I knew it was going to hurt even worse when Bobby poured the disinfectant and stitched the wound. She couldn't make noise. We had to be quiet. I had her lean against me with her head on my shoulder and I put my hand over her mouth. She tried to scream when Bobby cleaned the wound, but I kept talking softly to her and covered her mouth. She strained against me in pain and then passed out.

Tanks'POV

We all watched in awe as Ram held and comforted Steph. It was amazing to see. I'd seen Ram totally cool and unfeeling, coolly taking a shot that would end a bad guy's life. I'd never seen him be so sensitive and be so gentle with anyone. Steph brought out the protective side of him. In all of us. He was holding her with his hand over her mouth to stifle her screams. I was relieved when she finally went limp in his arms. She was in bad shape but we couldn't stay here. Javier's guys would find us. I huddled with Woody and Junior. Woody said, " I wouldn't have any problem going hand to hand with those fuckers; but we can't with Steph around. We have to get her out of here fast. Maybe Bobby can stabilize her a little; but if she is bleeding internally she needs a hospital fast. Where do we rendezvous with the copter?

This was a problem. In order to get to the chopper, we would have to get through the jungle and to a relatively secure area about 30 miles away. We had come in that way and we could do it in no time. We could, us guys. There was no way Steph could do it on a good day, but in this condition…well, lets just say in regards to getting her out, we were fucked.

We all moved instantly as we heard the sound of men coming towards the shed. Ram and Bobby held onto Steph; moving so she was behind them. I stood like a wall between Steph and the door. Woody and Junior drew their guns and a knife and walked out the door. They returned a few moments later. "They are dead, but there will be more. We have to get her out of here. "

I turned back to see Steph stirring in Ram's arms. Bobby was examining the dark bruises on her abdomen. Then he glanced at the scratches on her breasts and cringed; no one wanted to think about her tattered shirt and jeans and what the scratches on her breasts meant. I made eye contact with Bobby.

Bobby's POV

I finished binding her arm but her abdomen was so bruised and purple that I was worried about internal bleeding. I couldn't believe she was even conscious. She was fevered from the infected arm and who knew what the hell else happened to her. If she had been raped…well, he wasn't sure any of the guys would be able to control themselves if she was raped. Not to mention Ranger's reaction. I just didn't want to even imagine Ranger's reaction. He had to find out. " Sweetheart, I bound your arm and checked your abdomen. You might have some internal bleeding. But I see these scratches on your chest. You need to tell me something. Her eyes were unfocused. "Sweetheart , look at me. Did he … touch …you? " Her mind was too muddles to understand. " Of course he touched me. That's how I got the bruises." "No, honey, I mean, did he touch you like sexually. Did he …rape… you?"

She dissolved into tears shaking her head. She started crying hard, breathing raspy breaths. She looked back over at the dead guy on the floor. No he didn't rape me but he tried; we struggled and I was able to get to his gun. I killed him." She looked shocked that he was dead. " Good for you. Fucker deserved to die." He's lucky Ranger wasn't here to deal with him or he'd have suffered horribly before he died. Who said Stephanie couldn't take care of herself?

She was more alert now but still a bit panicked by the situation. "Its ok. You are safe now." Well, safe as a person could be when seriously hurt in a fucking jungle of a third world country with a corrupt government and being hunted by drug dealing thugs who wanted to kill you. But she didn't have to worry. She had us, and we'd get her out –no matter what.

Junior's POV

Bobby gave Steph a shot of antibiotics and , I think, epinephrine, and she seemed to perk up. She still looked BAD; but she was conscious –mostly. We had to get the hell out of Dodge. Steph, honey, we have to move out of here. Javier's thugs are after us." I started to pick her up to carry her, but she started to struggle to stand up. I took her elbows and helped pull her up.

"No,its ok. I can walk." She stood shakily and wobbled a bit when she walked. It would be a 30 mile walk to where the copter would pick us up. It was nothing for us. Might as well be 100 miles for her. She probably wasn't going to make if very far. And then, well, we'd do whatever the fuck we had to do to get her out of there and to a hospital. We quickly gathered our gear and started off, Tank and Woody in front, weapons out, Steph walking unsteadily, holding her stomach. Bobby walked next to Stephanie to steady her, and Ram and I with our rifles took up the rear. We were in a hostile country with a drug dealer's thugs hunting us, a weak, seriously injured woman with us and thirty miles separated us from our copter. Good thing we were all tough and well trained. We were going to need all the training we had to get us out of here.


	2. Chapter 2

Mission to Columbia: Chapter 2

Mission to Columbia: Chapter 2

Tank's POV

Junior is ahead of me on point as we make our way through this fucking jungle to the place where we would meet the chopper. We are going more slowly than I would have liked- but we have no choice. We have to be quiet and stealthy as possible. And we can only go as fast as Stephanie can. I looked back over my shoulder at her . One thing about her is she is damned stubborn. That is actually a good thing as it is the only reason she is still walking right now; however slowly. We are all sweaty in this fucking humid shithole of a country; but Steph's face is red from fever and dripping with sweat. Well, the parts of it that aren't covered with purple bruises are red. She is barely upright but is following along with the dogged determination she has always shown in her quest to be a good bounty hunter. She even has the gun she took from the guy at the shed in her uninjured hand. If we are in a position where she is close enough to use a handgun on these guys; we are all in deep shit. That will NOT happen. I am really worried. She has had some injuries tracing skips; but nothing like this. I think it is only the adrenaline, the fight or flight reaction that occurs in dangerous situations that is keeping her going. After that wears off, she was going to be in bad shape.

I followed Junior, making sure to hold branches and twigs out of the way for Stephanie behind me. She had enough to deal with without getting smacked in the face with these fucking freakishly large plants and trees. I held the branch until Bobby, who was next to Steph; took it and held it for her. Heh! We might be hardened commandos; but we have manners.

I was tired. The last several days had been a fucking nightmare that didn't end when I woke up. Not that I've slept much in the past several days. From the time Hal came running into my office at Rangeman frantic that Steph had gone off the Rangeman tracking systems, my body and mind have been going nonstop. Everyone had started calling her mother, Lula, Morelli, anyone we could think of that she might be with. I sent guys out to follow her trail from her last skip. I was annoyed, but not too worried; she was good at ditching her GPS and eluding whoever was assigned to guard her. Then, I got that call from Suarez. I am a huge, fucking fearless guy, but I was scared by the evil tenor of his voice when he told me he was going to take something Ranger loved away from him just like Ranger had taken his son away from him.

We knew Ranger was deeply "in the wind" God knew where on a covert CIA contract mission. I had no definite way to contact him and no idea when he'd be back. I hadn't planned this mission as thoroughly as I could have; otherwise I'd have anticipated that Steph would be hurt and found a better way to get her out. But there hadn't been time. We had less than 36 hours until Ranger was supposed to be in Columbia to meet Suarez. We had to act within that time. And unless you 're the fucking president, 36 hours is damn little time to plan a covert mission in a corrupt, hostile country. As it was, I had to use all Rangeman resources , and call in a few favors to get us here.

I looked back again at Steph and her monotonous progress through the jungle. I was responsible for getting her out safely. I felt the adrenaline pumping through my body from the life and death situations. Actually, I liked life and death situations- they made me feel powerful, confident, and alive. They gave me a chance to hone my tactical, weaponry and hand to hand skills to keep them in peak condition. Besides, in life and death situations, I was always the one who lived and it was the enemy who died. This time, it could be Stephanie who died.

The only thing that would be worse than Steph dying from her injuries would be her getting recaptured. Javier had been brutal to her , but he hadn't really had time to do any of the really nasty stuff to her. Bobby , Ranger and I had once been taken hostage and tortured by a Columbian rebel, and it had been the worst pain of our lives, the only time I had ever seen a grown man cry. Hell, I'd cried. But not Ranger. He was tough as steel. It had damn near killed us, but we hadn't given up our intelligence information. I didn't even want to imagine how much worse it would be for Stephanie if Javier's thugs got her. They would brutally torture and brutally rape her. There was no fucking way they were ever going to get their hands on her again. They'd have to go through all of us first. And that wasn't going to happen.

Bobby's POV

I held up the heavy branches so Steph could go by without getting hit on the face. I fucking hate jungles. They are humid, they smell, and it is almost impossible to be completely silent when going through one. And they leave a lot of places for the enemy to hide or to launch an ambush. Not to mention the goddamn howling monkeys. I swear, they are the fucking noisiest animals on earth.

Since I am the medic of the bunch, I am the one charged with taking care of Stephanie. I grabbed her elbow as she stumbled from the roots sticking up on the uneven ground. She had already fallen twice and gotten some really nasty unidentifiable shit all over her arms. Part of me chuckled to think that no matter where in the world she is; Steph cannot resist rolling in nasty shit. But she did not need to get more nasty shit into that arm wound and make the infection even worse. It was already systemic; she was red hot from fever. Last time I had taken her temperature, it was 104.2. If it got any higher, her brain would start to fry. What she needed was to be immersed in a tub of cold water. Like there was one of those anywhere in the fucking jungle.

All of us guys have a lot of stamina and are used to going hours and hours without food and water, even in the heat. I had to remind Junior and Tank that Steph had to stop often for breaks. Tank set his watch alarm to vibrate so that we stopped briefly every hour or so to give her a drink and more acetaminophen or a shot of antibiotics. I would try to sponge her off with cool water to bring down her temperature. Yeah, I know that you are only supposed to take antibiotics every four hours or so, but this was a pretty damn extreme case. And we didn't even have any cool water; it was all really hot from being carried in metal canteens. I had given her some jerky and she had eaten just a little of it. She had looked up at me and smiled slightly and whispered that she wished she had a Tastycake. I knew she was feeling like shit because that was the only full sentence she had uttered all day. She answered our questions with "yes", "no", and "fine." Just like a good Rangeman employee. I told her when we got home, I was sure Ranger would buy her a fucking truckload of Tastycakes. I had to remember to say "when" we get home, and not "if" we get home. We had serious doubts about us getting out alive but there was no way I was going to worry her any more than she was.

She winced from the pain in her abdomen and it made me feel like shit. I knew she was in pain, dammit, and I didn't like it. I couldn't give her a painkiller, though. Painkillers were depressants; they depressed the brain waves, heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. There was no damn way I was going to depress those things in her any more than they already were. I was amazed and impressed that she was still walking. Probably from the affects of natural adrenaline and the epi shots I gave her, combined with her sheer stubbornness. I wasn't going to cancel that out with a painkiller. She didn't complain about the pain, but she kept shooting me pleading looks. I had to say something to make her feel better. Fuck. I put my hand on her shoulder and said, "I know it hurts sweetheart. I'm sorry. Just try to keep going and we'll get you to a hospital." Yeah, real comforting , huh? I basically told her she had to suck just it up and take it like a man. What a guy I am.

I worried more about Steph not surviving her injuries than her getting recaptured. I knew they would be unspeakably vicious to her. Hell, they were to me and they'd be worse to her. I wasn't too worried about that, though. I just figured there was a much smaller likelihood of her getting recaptured than of her dying from her injuries. I couldn't live myself if that happened. I couldn't bear to disappoint Ranger like that either. I had to be sure she survived and got to a hospital.

Ram's POV

Woody and I were in the rear, making sure no one snuck up on us from behind. From time to time, Woody would leave and go in the opposite direction trying to throw anyone who might be following us off our trail. Even a complete moron would be able to follow us. For one thing, it was nearly impossible to be quiet in a jungle; less so with Steph's slow, clumsy movements.

Not to mention the fucking monkeys. The jungle is full of them. They make this unbelievably annoying screeching noise. They screech endlessly whenever something comes into their environment. They swing over our heads and from time to time something, I think it is monkey shit, drops from the trees. They are incredibly loud; especially in the relative quiet of the jungle. Javier's goons can find us just by following the sound of the goddamn monkeys. Worse yet, we don't hear people sneaking up at us in all this racket.

I screwed the silencer onto my gun and shot twice up into the trees. The gun makes only a muffled noise. There is a flurry of scampering and then the goddamn monkeys run away. Or climb away. Or whatever the fuck they do.

Stephanie turns and looks at me with a look of shock that I would shoot at a monkey. Like she is going to report me for cruelty to animals or something. I could smile, because that is the most animated I have seen her face all day. I smile at her, and she gives a tiny grin. I 'll bet she was annoyed by the goddamn monkeys, too, but didn't have the energy to shoot them. Actually, I am an excellent sniper. What I aim at, I hit. If I'd have shot AT the monkeys; they'd be falling dead out of the fucking trees. I shot in their general direction and they got scared and ran away. Or climbed away. Or whatever the fuck they do. So I am not really a horrible bastard. Besides, I am not going to let a bunch of primates give us away.

Normally, the guy in the rear does what he can to cover up the trail and remove any signs that the unit had passed through. In this case, that was next to impossible. There were so many bent branches, footprints in the soft ground, and displaced foliage that a five year old could pick up or trail. We might as well have a billboard with an arrow showing Javier's fuckheads our exact location. At least we were pretty quiet. Stephanie had said almost nothing and of course, we Rangmen didn't talk when we were in the field. That was what hand signals were for.

I watched Bobby catch Steph's elbow to keep her from falling again. She was methodically but slowly putting one foot in front of the other. We'd been traveling for five hours and we hadn't even gone 20 miles yet. It was pretty evident that Steph wasn't going to be able to go much further. And it was starting to get dark.

Woody's POV

I was with Ram in the rear of the unit. It was our job to be sure that no one came upon us from behind and to try to cover any tracks we leave. I left Ram to do that; but it was hard to cover up signs of passage through a jungle. There are just too many plants and hit to be disturbed. No, in a jungle you couldn't really cover your tracks well. You had to be swift and be ready to move and react quickly if someone came upon you. We couldn't do anything quickly. Steph was barely moving slowly. So we had to try a different tactic- laying a false trail.

There was probably a whole shitload of people after us. Javier's goons would be after us for killing their boss and stealing his prize-Stephanie. I smile as I hear the muffled gunshot. Someone got pissed and shot at the monkeys. There is a huge flurry of noise above me; and then the monkeys clear out. Good. Now Javier's goons can't track us by following the monkey screeches.

I veer off in a direction ninety degrees from the one we are traveling. I clomp through that part of the jungle; making sure I leave as many footprints in the mud and bend as many twigs as possible to make Javier's goons think we went in this direction.

After I lay the impressive false trail, I double back and meet up with Ram again. Actually, there are more than just Javier's goons following us. There are other drug lords in the area; hell, Columbia is full of them. None of them are happy to have the people who murdered Javier running loose. And who knows how many people Javier told about capturing Stephanie? We could have a bunch of them after us.

I hear some rustling in the thick foliage to my left and behind us. Fuck, someone is directly behind and to the right of us. I fire a muffled shot to warn the others and then take off to get the goons.

Tank's POV

Junior raised his hand in the signal to take cover at the same time I hear the muffled warning shots. I turn to my right and see movement in the trees. I fall to the ground, rolling to my right and shooting as I roll. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Steph behind a tree and Bobby in front of it, gun drawn, and shooting into the jungle. I hear Woody, Ram , and Junior running full on through the brush chasing the goons and shooting. I go in the other direction to catch those that split from the group.

I run through the dense jungle trees, a rifle in one hand and the gun in the other, chasing the man running away from us. Adrenaline is pumping through me and I realize I really miss this feeling. Probably this guy is going back to tell the others where we are and come back with reinforcements. I hear the goon traipsing through the trees and follow the howling of the goddamn monkeys. Through a small break in the branches, I get a clear shot at his chest. I shoot and hear the telltale, "ooh" of my bullet hitting its intended target. I find the guy and he is dead; my bullet in his chest. What an idiot; no vest on. Any drug smuggler that stupid deserves what he gets. The monkeys have scattered again after my gunshots.

I run back to flank the location where Junior and Woody have pinned a couple of Javier's assholes. I see Woody's knife fly through the air and land in the throat of one of them. The blood spurting from his neck stains the trees. Monkeys are screeching all above us. I hate the fucking monkeys.

Junior and I scout the area to be sure there no one is left out there waiting. We don't want to leave bodies lying around to give away our route; so Woody and Ram search them for weapons or important papers and then throw the bodies off a cliff a couple hundred yards away. We didn't find any cellphones or radio equipment, so we don't think they got word back to reinforcements about where we are.

Bobby's POV

I see Junior signal us to take cover a the same time I hear the warning shots. I grab Stephanie and I hear her gasp in pain. I know I hurt her; but I have to get her cover. I shove her onto the ground behind a thick tree and make sure her gun is in her hand. She is in pain but alert. I tell her, "Stay here. If you see someone you don't recognize, shoot to kill." She NEVER follows directions, but I am hoping that in this case she will. She is probably too weak to do much but sit there , anyway. I draw my subautomatic and shoot the goons running before me in the trees. I want to run after them, but I have to guard Steph. And I will, with my life. Woody and Ram will get the ones who run.

Steph screams behind me at the same time a gun goes off. I turn to see her holding the gun and one of Javier's men falling in front of her. She shoots another coming up in the trees. Apparently, all of the practice Ranger made her take in the firing range had paid off. She could hit a moving target even when doubled over in pain.

Woody picks off a couple more of them before they get to where Steph is hiding. I turn around and am faced with one asshole just feet from my face. He doesn't shoot; but goes to punch me. I am good with hand to hand combat; but a gun is much more efficient; so I just shoot the asshole in the chest. These guys are total assholes not even wearing vests. I mean, really, what kind of professional soldier goes chasing someone without a vest. Now I am glad these guys are dead just because they are so stupid.

The shooting stops and all we can hear is the mass of fucking monkeys start with their screeching again. I start thinking about turning the fucking monkeys into stew. Ram and Woody were dragging bodies away to throw them over the cliff. Tank and Junior are out scouting, making sure that we got all the bastards. I reholster my gun and head back to where Stephanie is behind the tree.

She isn't there. I have a moment of panic, but then I hear the sound of retching behind a large ugly frondy-type plant. I see Steph on her hands and knees, vomiting into the branches of this ugly ass tree. She looks up when she hears me and has an embarrassed look on her face. I am surprised she is vomiting, since she has eaten pretty damn little; then I realize she is mostly vomiting blood. Fuck! I hold her hair back until she finishes. She is trembling and I am not sure if it is from weakness or from fear of the firefight. I give her water from the canteen and she rinses her mouth and wipes her face. She doesn't even make eye contact with me. We both know that vomiting blood is not a good thing. I have not really seen her scared; but now there is fear in her eyes. I take her shoulders and gently help her back to sit under the tree. She says nothing, but I can see the increasing fear radiating off of her. " Its ok. You'r going to be ok, sweetheart, we'll get you out of here and get you help, " I tell her. I am a goddamn liar. She is not ok and we have a lot of ground to cover if she is going to get to help. I am basically lying to her to make her feel better. No, I am not, I decide. I will make sure she survives.

"Steph, honey, let me see your stomach." She lifts the borrowed shirt and I see that her stomach is almost completely purple and black. She hisses and moans when I touch it even lightly. Her abdomen is completely rigid- like a board; no give when I touch it. Fuck. That, with the vomiting blood, means there is certainly internal bleeding. And it seems to be getting worse.

I take her temperature again. 104. At least it hasn't gone up. Her blood pressure is the same- low because of the internal bleeding. I change the now filthy bandage on her arm and give her more antibiotics and acetaminophen for the fever. It is pretty much all I can do. She is quiet and I let her rest for a few minutes while I talk to the guys.

Ram's POV

After Woody and I got done disposing of the bodies, we met up with tank, Junior, and Bobby to assess the situation and revise the plan. You had to do that on missions if it went to shit- you had to revise the plan. We sat in a small huddle where we could see Steph but where she couldn't hear us. Tank said, " Ok, all the assholes are dead. No sign of any more. Our cellphones had no service in this ass crack of the world and we'd had only choppy transmissions on our radios. Tank said he'd managed to get through to Rangman central. The copter would meet us at the planned rendevous spot; unfortunately, there was no place any closer big and clear enough to land a chopper. He told them we would be delayed getting there. It would be dark soon, and we'd have no choice but to camp here for the night. Using lights to keep walking would give us away.

I looked back at Stephanie, who was leaning against a tree with her eyes closed. " How's she doing?" I asked Bobby. "She isn't doing well. She was just vomiting up blood and her stomach is rock hard; indicating at least moderate internal bleeding. It feels worse than it did before. Her temperature is very high and her blood pressure is very low. She is going to need to stop for the night pretty soon, but if we don't get her out of here soon, she won't make it. She needs an OR, fast. She did however, kill two of those assholes."

I chuckled. That was our Stephanie, wounded and barely conscious, but not giving up the fight. Fuck. We had to get her out of here. I looked at the other guys. I knew they would all do whatever was needed to protect Steph. And I sure as hell wasn't going to let her die.

Junior looked at Bobby. "Well, if we made a shelter or something, could you do it here?" Bobby's face got an incredulous, "are you fucking kidding me? "look on it. We were all putting a lot of pressure on him and his face showed the strain " The surgery? No way. I 'm a combat medic, not a fucking surgeoun. And we're in a fucking jungle."

Tank said, "I've seen you do surgery in combat almost in the jungle." Bobby looked

at him as if he couldn't believe Tank was serious. "That was different. Those guys were already blown open. All I did was stuff their innards back inside and stitch them up well enough to get them to a real surgeon." Bobby looked a little panicked now. He knew Steph's life was in his hands. "In his place there was no fucking way I'd risk it. This is a basic combat medic kit. Its for stitches and IVs. I have no surgical tools, no fucking anesthesia, no way to monitor heartrate and breathing, not to mention this fucking jungle is probably the least sanitary place on Earth. And Ranger would kill me for even attempting it. There is no way I can do it here. We HAVE to get her out, I'd say within the next twelve hours or so, max."

It was almost dark now, so we'd have to make camp for the night. We probably had 10 miles to go to meet the chopper. We'd carry her out in the morning. Tank said, "ok, we'll stop for the night, but not here. We're too close to where we were ambushed. Lets carry her a bit and try to find a relatively secure place to camp for the night.

Junior's POV

We went back to Stephanie and she was almost unconscious under the tree. Tank and Ram went ahead to find a good spot to camp for the night. Woody and I went to Steph. She opened her eyes and smiled at us. "Hey, guys. Is it time to go again. Give me a hand up." She was trying to act like she had strength that she didn't. Ranger would be proud of her. I stroked the unbruised section of her cheek; wincing at the heat in her face. "It's ok . Steph. I know you are tired. We'll carry you a little ways and then we'll camp for the night. You can just rest, honey, and let us do the work." Woody and I had to figure the best way to carry her. The over the shoulder fireman's carry wouldn't work because it would put pressure on her already bleeding abdomen. We didn't have far to go until we camped, so I decided just to carry her in front of me in my arms so she could be relatively horizontal. Bobby had started an IV to give her some fluids and antibiotics; so Woody would keep the bag upright while I carried her. He'd also carry my extra supplies since I was carrrying Steph.

We'd discussed which of us would carry her. We were both a bit afraid to. We didn't want to hurt her any more than she was. I picked her up as carefully as I could and settled her so she could lean back against my arm and put her head on my chest. Her head lolled onto my chest. "Are you ok this way, Steph?"She nodded slightly, turned her head towards my shoulder, and closed her eyes. I wasn't sure if she was sleeping or if she'd passed out. Woody grabbed the IV bag and held it above her so the fluids would trickle down the tube. We were both a bit nervous about this. We weren't used to having to worry about being so careful and gentle. We were both afraid if we made even one wrong move we'd hurt her even more. In spite of the awkwardness of the position, we made faster progress than we had before and in about 10 minutes, we'd caught up with the guys who'd found a place to camp for the night.

They had found a small area that was relatively secluded sort of in an overhang. It would be easy to guard and hard to attack. Ram had gathered up some leaves and stuff to make a sort of mattress; then laid out sleeping bags over that to create a bed for Stephanie. It would provide pretty good insulation against the cool wet ground. There was enough space under the overhang for three or four people to sleep. We'd be taking turns with guard duty. I carefully laid Steph onto the sleeping bag and covered her with a blanket. Bobby propped the IV bag up against the dirt at the top of the overhang; so Steph could continue to get liquids while she slept.

. We decided a rotation schedule for guard duty. At least two of us would be on perimeter guard duty at all times during the night; one would be awake at the camp while two slept. We decided that since Bobby was going to need to get up at night to take care of Steph, the rest of us would take his guard duty. None of us was really tired anyway, since we are used to much longer days than this.

Woody's POV

I hate the fucking jungle. It is hot, humid and noisy in the daytime and unbelieveably dark at night. Most people don't know that while a jungle is fucking hot during the day, it can get cool at night- especially in the densely packed areas. During combat mission, we'd traveled through the jungle at night and it is the stuff horror movies could be made of. If you have never experienced totally and complete darkness; go to a jungle at night. Plus, there are fucking weird plants everywhere to run into in the dark. Not to mention monkeys, and snakes. Anyone should likes a jungle should have to experience one at night as a soldier.

Tank and Ram had drawn first perimeter duty, so they donned their night vision goggles, gear, and rifles and set out. It was much cooler now so we were actually comfortable and the damn monkeys had shut up now that it was dark. Bobby and I went to check on Steph and found her shivering under the light blanket. I didn't understand this. She had a temperature of 104; literally toasting inside; yet she was cold? Bobby said that a lot of times, severe infection is accompanied by chills and fever.

We couldn't build a fire, not even a small one, and not even under this overhang. Orange flames in a dark jungle would be the equivalent of sending Javier's men a fucking invitation with directions on how to find us. We had used the sleeping bags to insulate Steph from the cold ground and we'd only brought one extra blanket. Hell, we didn't need blankets- we'd brought it for Steph and we never expected to use it since we didn't imagine it'd take this long to get out.

Bobby had put some cool, wet rags on her face to try to cool her down; but she was shivering violently. She wouldn't sleep well that way.

All of us guys are big and we tend to run a bit hot temperature wise. We are always warm- like fucking furnaces. The women we have sex with love that-big and warm. We could use our furnaces- our body heat to warm Steph. I laid down on one side of her with her body pressed against me. I got a little turned on by the feel of her body against mine.; the curve of her breast- shit. Ok, so maybe I am a fucking pig; but I am a guy and a woman's body was tightly up against mine and I wasn't fucking dead so yes, it made me hard. But I am not a pig- would not take advantage of a sick woman and besides I was used to ignoring being turned on by Steph. I didn't want her to feel my erection at night and get scared so I rolled over so she was against my back. That was a little better but not much.

I called to Junior to lay on her other side so we could keep her warm by sandwiching her between us. He lay down tightly on her other side and I noticed the look of worry on his face. She must have given him a hard on, too. He rolled over so she was between us pressed against our backs. I reached over and put the blanket over her to keep the warmth close to her. It was kind of weird sleeping this close to another guy; but we'd do what it took to keep Steph warm.

I felt Steph snuggle tightly against us; taking the warmth we offered. Gradually her chills lessened and her breathing slowed into sleep. I closed my eyes, knowing that I had the soldier's skill of awakening at the slightest sound or movement or the slightest change in my environment. My gun was right next to my hand; and I knew Junior's gun was at the ready, too. I heard Steph sigh and snuggle closer to me and I closed my eyes, sleeping lightly until it was time for my guard shift.


	3. Chapter 3

I thought this story could use a bit of humor. And I think it might be awkward for the Merry Men sometimes.

Bobby's POV

It was just before dawn and the jungle was relatively quiet; except for the night sounds of insects. I crept quietly over to where Steph was sleeping restlessly between Ram and Tank. She had gone to sleep sandwiched between Woody and Junior; sharing their warmth; but during the night; the guys changed shifts. Woody and Junior were now on guard duty and Ram and Tank had taken over the job of guarding Steph against the chill of the night. We all moved quietly and she was out of it ; so she probably didn't notice that the guys she was bookended between had changed during the night. I must be getting soft, because my first thought was that she looked very small sleeping tightly packed between two huge men. It was almost sweet. Damn. Ranger definitely didn't need to know about this part. We'd better never let word get out about this; or our reputations as badsses were shot to hell.

Tank sat up with his gun in his hand at my approach; but stood down when he realized it was me. Ram, Tank, and I looked down at Steph. She was very restless; her head lolling back and forth on the sleeping bag. She was mumbling something unintelligible, and writhing beneath the cover. I checked her temperature- still about 104. So much for the antibiotics. Her abdomen was rock hard. Her blood pressure was very low. "Steph, Steph…" She opened her eyes and I saw that she was in pain. " How are you doing, sweetheart?" " It hurts, Bobby, it hurts bad." A small tear streaked down her cheek. I cringed because I still couldn't give her anything for it. " I know, honey, you are being so brave. Ranger will be proud. It's going to be ok. Just hang in there." Yeah, like saying that is going to really make it ok.

While I was setting up new meds for the IV; she said, "Guys, I don't want to admit this because I want Ranger to think I was brave, but …,I'm scared. What if I die? Or we don't make it out?" She was using up energy she didn't have by getting upset about it. Fuck. Feelings stuff again. I hate it when women get all feeling-y like this. Hell, I knew she was scared. I was scared, too. Not for me; but for her. I was scared that I wouldn't be able to keep her alive. I didn't really know what to say other than that meaningless comforty stuff again. I looked at Tank- he was the leader, he could damn well take the lead here.

Tank used his thumb to wipe the tear from her cheek and got a look on his face that I had never seen before. It looked almost, dare I say, tender. " Steph, I know you are scared. But don't be. This is a military operation, we all have jobs. Ram, Woody, and Junior's job is to shoot the bad guys; Bobby's job is to take care of you, and my job is to get us out of here. Your job is to rest and stay with us. We are all the best there is at our jobs, you just need to worry about yours." He looked Steph right in the eyes and she seemed to calm down. Damn. That was the most I'd ever heard Tank say at one time.

I felt, weird, this was a very intimate situation- and not intimate in a sexual way. All of us were used to intimate sexual stuff with women; but nothing as intimate feelings-wise as comforting a scared woman that we all loved in the dark hours of the night. Ram said, "Steph, Ranger trusts us with his life; you can trust us with yours. It's going to be ok, I promise. Just rest, ok. Don't worry." Steph looked up at us with trusting eyes and was out again.

Tank gave us a look that said, " If you ever tell anyone about this, I will kill you." Ram was a liar. We all knew there was a good chance we wouldn't make it out of here; but no one was going to upset her with that information. That was the thing about the military. Most stuff we couldn't tell Steph because it was secret, or "need to know." A lot of stuff we can't tell Steph because she's better off- and safer- not knowing it. We all protect her from a lot of worrying just by not telling her stuff.

Tank's POV

I woke up next to Stephanie and Ram; not well rested and sore. I sleep very lightly on missions, alert for every noise, ready to leap into action. And, well, I was uncomfortable next to Steph. I am a huge guy and I am not used to sleeping with smaller women. Not really even used to, er, sleeping, with women. I was afraid I would roll over on her and crush her or something. Not to mention the problem we were all having, healthy guys get turned on sleeping next to hot women. When Bobby came over, we checked on Steph. I don't know why, but the thought of Steph worried about dying or dying here made my stomach clench. I didn't want her to worry. I told her that my job was to get her out and hers was to rest and get stronger… or something like that. All I knew was that Ranger was my best friend. We'd been to hell and back together. No way was I going to let Ranger's woman worry about stuff.

It wasn't even dawn yet; but I got up and went outside to look for Woody and Junior. We had to formulate a new plan to get Steph out of here, since she couldn't walk anymore. I found them a few yards away, on guard duty. They heard my silent approach and drew their guns on me. Damn, they were well trained. Woody said, " It was a pretty quiet night. I guess Javier's goons are pussys who are afraid to be in the jungle at night. But they'll be after us today." Especially because I could hear the goddamn monkeys starting up with their screeching.

" How's Steph doing?' Junior asked. "Same," I answered. We need to come up with a way to get her our of here. We only have about 10 miles to where we catch the copter; but she can't walk. We could carry her, but that might put pressure on her abdomen. She needs to lay flat.

Woody stayed guard while Junior and I searched for branches thick and strong enough to hold Steph. See, we are total commandos, able to survive in the jungle and make things to suit or needs. It only took half an hour to fashion the branches into a four sided stretcher. I stretched the sleeping bag and blanket over the branches. It wouldn't hold one of us guys ; but it would hold Stephanie. See! We were fucking MacGyver.

We went back to the overhang. Steph was outside to take a piss. Bobby was impressed when he saw the stretcher. " We've got 10 miles to go until we get to the rendezvous with the copter. Will she make it?" Bobby said, " She should make it ok if she doesn't have to walk. Although when she was walking she had to stay awake. If she isn't walking, she won't have the adrenaline and she might lose consciousness." It's ok. We'll keep her awake.

Ram's POV

After tank left, Bobby made Steph eat some jerky. She looked tight at me and asked if she could go outside to "pee.". Bobby looked at me to take her outside. Oh, great. why me? None of us guys wants to even think about women and bodily functions in the same thought. Peeing, menstruating, all that shit was just creepy to guys. We just didn't want to think about women and their bodily functions. But it was Steph and she was dependent on us. I had to find a safe area first. Fuck. I am looking for a good place for a woman to piss? It had to be secure and have privacy and not be downhill. And she couldn't really stand so maybe with a rock. I so don't want to be considering that Steph would need a rock to sit on since she was too weak to squat. I will need several beers when we get back to get that thought out of my head.

I carefully picked her up and carried her to the secure spot I had carefully scouted out. Fuck, Now this got awkward. There was nothing in the ARMY Rangers handbook or the Rangeman bodyguard training that covers how to help the hot but seriously injured woman that your boss loves go to the bathroom. She was pretty weak. Shit. I did NOT want to help a woman go to the bathroom. I must have looked really confused because she said, " Thanks , Ram. I'll only need a minute." My cue to leave, Thank God. But what if she needed help? She was very weak. I couldn't just leave her here struggling. Ranger would kill me. "Ok, if you need, um, any, er, …help, um, just yell" , I said, hoping to God she wouldn't. I walked a few feet away and behind a tree and turned my back on her. I wasn't going to leave her out here alone. I couldn't see her; but I was close enough to hear her if she called out. Or if Javier's men came along. She took a long time, and I was just about to see if she was ok, when she said, " Ok, Ram. I'm done." I came back to where I left her and noticed she was paler and she had again vomited blood. I picked her up carefully and carried her to the overhang.

Junior's POV

Bobby gave Steph a shot and then we carefully laid her down on the fucking amazing stretcher that Tank and I made. We tried to be as gentle as we could, but I knew we were causing her pain. She her face was red from the fever, but the skin on her arms seemed very pale. Tank crouched down to look her in the eye. " Ok, Steph. Remember your job is to rest and stay with us. Let us do all the work. "

Tank was on point , Bobby and I were carrying Steph on the badass stretcher, and Woody and and Ram were in the rear. But we were walking so close together. We had only walked about half a mile when Steph started to doze. When she's had to walk, the natural adrenaline had given her strength. Now she didn't have to walk, so Bobby was afraid to have her drift off, since the adrenaline wouldn't be there this time. He said, " Open your eyes, sweetheart. We want you to stay with us." She mumbled that the sun was in her eyes. Bobby had put a wet cloth on her forehead, and I propped my camo cap over it, shading her eyes from the sun. She smiled at me. Fuck. She had a great smile. she could get a guy to do anything for her with that smile. "Ok, now stay with us," I heard Bobby say.

Bobby said, "We need to try to keep her awake." He looked at me. "Talk to her."

What the fuck? Talk to her? What the fuck is he thinking? Rangemen don't talk. Bobby was looking at me expectantly. He really was expecting me to talk- have a conversation with Steph. Dammit. Talk….talk…my brain scrambled, trying to think of something to talk about. What the hell was I supposed to talk to her about? That bastard Bobby is making me talk so he won't have to. I thought fast, Ok, the weather. People always talk about the weather.

I cleared my throat and tried to have a conversational tone. " Hey, Steph, pretty hot huh? Last time I was in a jungle it was hot and I had gotten sho…." I stopped suddenly when Tank smacked me on the head. " Don't talk to her about getting shot you idiot. That'll upset her."

I gave Tank a bad look when he turned his back to me. Why the hell didn't he talk. Shit. What the hell do I talk about with Steph. I mean, I said hi to her and all but all of us Rangemen usually spoke only a word or two at a time. We didn't have conversation. That was for chicks. Chicks could talk all day. Fuck! I couldn't think of a thing to talk about.

Ram's POV

I was laughing at Junior for getting smacked on the head, when Tank pointed to me and said, "Talk to Steph to keep her awake." shit. Suddenly this wasn't funny anymore. What to talk about with Steph… dammit, I had to say something. I thought of the things that reminded me of her. " Hey, Steph. When we get back, we can get you a really cute car. You haven't blow… whack. Now Tank smacked me on the head. " Not about blowing things up, you idiot." he whispered. Shit, ok,um, try again, shit…. I looked to the guys for help but they all were suddenly very interested in the fucking monkeys screeching above us. Damn monkeys were so fucking loud. I once again fired two shots into the air and made them scatter. Ok, now I could think…ok, bounties,

" Hey, Steph, when we get back you can talk Vinnie into giving you some higher bond ski…" whack. What the fuck is with the whacking. "Don't talk about stuff that will worry her , either..., Tank whispered. Shit. She always asked about our nicknames. I could tell that I got the nickname Ram because I like to, shit, probably not violent stuff, either. I was at a loss. Hmm…guns, no, bodybuilding?, no….

Bobby's POV

We had to keep Steph from drifting off so I guess I would have to be the hero- the one to make conversation. Fuck. What to talk about. how she's feeling?? No. Too upsetting. guns? Too violent. How Woody got his nickname? Too gross. Ambush techniques? Back to the violent. Her weird family? Too upsetting. Shit, now all the guys are looking at me. There has to be something nice and sweet and not upsetting to talk to her about. Ok, wait, she's got that pet. Pets are sweet and non-upsetting. What the fuck is that pet she has? Something rodent –like. Not a rat. It's one of those really small annoying animals that never did anything but rollaround on a wheel. Real pets are ones you can take running with you. Ok, its not a gerbil. Maybe a hamster? What the hell is the difference between a fucking gerbil and a fucking hamster anyway? Never mind, I don't want to know. It was a hamster. I am a genious.

I smile at the other guys and lean over Steph, " Hey sweetie, tell me about your pet hamster. What's his name again , Rover? " All the guys look at me in awe- or maybe it is envy- that I found something appropriate to talk to Steph about. She answers in a small voice. "His name is Rex." That's it. End of conversation. Four word answer. Steph is either in a lot of pain or trying to become a Rangeman. Since none of us can think of a damn thing to talk to Steph about, we decide to keep her awake by having her name all the different kinds of Tastycakes.

Woody's POV

All of us guys were used to hiking in combat boots and heavy gear in the Rangers, so carrying Stephanie on the stretcher is no burden to us. We are making much better time today than yesterday, and we should be within sight of the rendezvous point within an hour. I am alternating between searching the woods for bad guys and keeping an eye on Stephanie. We stop for a minute or so every half hour so Bobby can make her drink. The trees are less dense in this part of the jungle so the sun shines brighter. We tried to protect Steph from it as much as we can, but it is still hot for her. Plus with a fever. Bobby doesn't want her to get dehydrated. Her eyes are closed under Junior's cap, which is shielding them from the sun. After our disastrous attempt to keep her awake by conversing with her, she has said very little. She is in and out of consciousness. Every so often, Bobby will stroke her face and try tog et her to open her eyes. I know Bobby is worried about her bleeding to death from the internal bleeding in her abdomen.

We are almost to the rendezvous site. The only problem is that we are not the only ones who know about this site. In fact, there isn't anyone in the Columbian underworld who doesn't know about it. It is the only place around that is big enough and clear enough to land a copter. So Javier's men have to know that we will head there. Once we get to the copter, we have to try to fly to a damn hospital.

I am pretty sure that we are going to get ambushed in the brush just before the clearing to the chopper. Javier's men have to know we are going there. I walk next to Bobby, scanning the trees. Tank is ahead on point. Tank signals us to take cover just before the first shot sounds. Bobby and Junior take Steph's stretcher and hide it in some huge ass plants. Bobby stays with Steph to protect her; his gun drawn and his knife out. I know he wants to fight too, but his job is to take care of Steph.

Tank, Ram, Junior, and I fan out firing our machine guns; casings flying everywhere. I get hit in the shoulder but it is absorbed by my Kevlar vest. I think that we should have put a vest on Steph; but it would have hurt her abdomen even more. The leaves of the trees in front of us are filled with bullet holes. It is suddenly very loud with all the shooting and the occasional shout. My adrenaline is pumping. If we didn't have to worry about Steph, I'd be enjoying the fire fight.

Tank, Ram, Junior, and I are like a four man army, a precise four man army. And Javier's men can't shoot worth shit. Still, we are outnumbered at least two to one. We've been in worse odds; but we have Steph to protect. I see a guy sneak over in the direction of her stretcher, but he falls quickly with Bobby's knife in his throat. Spent ammo is flying everywhere.

I can hear WHAPPA!WHAPPA!WHAPPA! of the chopper blades as it approaches but does not descend. It is a huge transport copter. It's hovering high in the air. Javier's men have quite an arsenal, probably even mini missiles to take down the copter. I shoot one of Javier's guys in the head and he drops. Tank, Junior, Ram and I kill all the near guys but we are still pinned by sniper fire. They are firing at us but we are in cover. If we make a move toward the copter they'll pick us off like ducks in a shooting gallery.

Tank's POV

Shit. We took care of the thugs near us, but the damn snipers have us pinned. The chopper is hovering high, but it can't come any closer for fear of getting blown out of the sky. I can hear the chopper pilot on my radio. He tells us he can see four snipers. If we make a move toward the clearing, we are fucked.

I turn around and see Ram with his sniper rifle trying to find a high spot to take them out the enemy snipers. Woody is shooting, covering Ram as he looks for a protected place to shoot from.

Suddenly, the sniper fire is lessened by half. Maybe Ram got them for us.But, no, Ram isn't in cover yet. I notice that one after the other, the snipers firing at us are being methodically picked off. Someone is helping us out here. I look around and see a glint of a rifle and someone on the other side of the snipers; pinning them between him and us. The unknown sniper methodically picks off all the snipers shooting at us. It is amazing to watch. I am glad for the help , but don't have much time to think about why we are getting it.

Once the snipers are gone, the chopper descends into the clearing. I can hear the scramble of more of the drug lord's men regrouping for a second attack, but they are a bit away. Bobby and Woody have the stretcher and are running like hell for the copter. They gently lift the stretcher inside and Bobby is shouting something at the pilot.

Ram is coming out of his cover, and he, Junior and I run like hell for the chopper, firing behind us occasionally at those drug fuckers. We jump into the chopper and fall next to Bobby; who is getting Steph settled. I give the chopper pilot the signal to lift off while Ram lays down cover fire. We are several feet above the ground when I see someone running fast towards us. Maybe the mystery sniper? He is running like hell towards the chopper; and turning every few steps to give his own cover fire. I recognize his gait and his face, despite it being caked in filth.

I signal the pilot to descend again and the figure jumps onto the blade, pulls himself up; then vaults himself into the copter. He really does look just like fucking Rambo.

Stef's POV

I have never hurt so much in my life. I am so hot and even breathing is an effort. I know the guys are trying to get me out of here . They want to keep me awake, but after awhile I feel myself drift off.

I feel movement, I am being jostled around; then the jostling stops. I hear loud bangs, shit, gunshots? I can see and hear only sporadically. I am spending all my energy just trying to breathe. Less noise now. Now more jostling. I can see a face? Bobby? Yelling at someone and I seem to float.

I feel a slight needle prick in one hand and a light touch on the other. Someone is holding my hand. I try to open my eyes; but I can't. I just see a haze of dark and light. A face looks down at me; but I can't see any features. I feel a light touch to my face.

The haze is so think I can't see anything but shadows. It hurts so badly and I feel myself drifiting off again. As my awareness is fading out, I hear a voice that I recognize.

"Babe!"


	4. Chapter 4

Mission in Columbia –Ch. 4

Ranger's POV

The chopper was already several feet above ground when I jumped on the skids and grabbed Tank's arm to launch myself inside. When I was inside the copter, he slapped me on the back.

" Damn! Good to see you, boss. Perfect timing, too. You saved our asses." I nodded slightly and looked over at Stephanie on the stretcher. She looked a fucking mess with bruises all over her face, bandages on her arm and purple and black bruising all over her abdomen. In all the scrapes she has gotten herself into, she has never looked this bad. This time it was my fault she was injured. I looked down at Steph. Her eyes were closed but I wanted her to know I was there. "Babe!," I said and squeezed her uninjured hand.

Bobby was busy caring for Steph; but he looked up, knowing I wanted a report." She's got a high fever from the infection of the arm wound, and some facial bruises. But I am most concerned about the internal abdominal bleeding. I am not sure how bad the bleeding is, but its been going on for at least day and a half and her blood pressure is dangerously low. If she doesn't get blood soon, she'll go into shock and then die because her heart doesn't have enough blood to pump. She needs to get to the OR for surgery and fluid replacement fast or she isn't going to make it." Shit. She was in bad shape. Bobby's eyes met mine and I could read the worry in them. I also saw determination and affection. Bobby was one of my few close friends and he loved Steph. He was also the best combat medic in the Rangers. It was only because of his skill that she was still alive now. I knew he would do everything he could to keep her alive. But he and I both knew it might not be enough. Fuck! She couldn't die. None of us would let her.

Seeing her hurt this badly and handing on so tenuously made a sudden wave of fury pass through me. My fists tightened up and I imagined all the things I was going to do to torture these drug running fuckheads who thought they could hurt me by hurting her. Well, they really pissed me off by hurting her. And I am the wrong person to piss off. Pissing me off by touching my Babe is a fucking death wish. I thought of all the ways I would torture them before giving them the most painful death possible. I am not a nice man and I know so many painful ways to kill someone. They were going to experience all of my expertise. I pushed that thought from my mind and forced myself back to calmness. Steph needed me calm and focused. I held her hand and caressed her face for a moment then and leaned close to her ear. I whispered. "Hey, Babe! I love you and I want you to hang in there for me. We're getting you help –just hang in there. Its going to be ok. Just stay with me." Then I felt a slight squeeze of my fingers and I knew she'd heard me. I watched Steph for a moment and saw Bobby check her blood pressure, pulse, and IV. My emotions welled up in me and I wanted to be the one caring for Steph, the one she needed. But my rational mind knew that Bobby was the expert and could take much better care of her until we got to the hospital.

Woody's POV

I couldn't believe the luck we had getting saved by an anonymous sniper; until I realized it was Ranger. I couldn't believe how glad I was to see him, and not just because he saved our asses with that Rambo shit. The original plan for this mission was to get Steph and haul ass straight back to the States. With Steph this seriously hurt, we had to go to the Columbian hospital in Bogata. Bobby had to worry about taking care of Steph, the rest of us had to worry about securing the hospital. We were going to need as much manpower as we could get. There was a huge difference between hospitals here and the in the US. In the US, the ambulance pulls up and everyone gets a certain standard of care, doctors try to help everyone. The American hospital is a refuge, a place of safety. Here in Columbia, the hospitals, just like everything else, were partially controlled by drug lords. They could be places of corruption and deceit. The cartel guys knew Steph was injured and there was only one decent hospital we could take her to. So Javier's goons and any drug lord with a score to settle would be trying to prevent us from getting her there. They might also bribe the doctors not to help her or even to harm her. They might even ambush is. We needed Ranger to help us get her there safely. I hope Ranger had brought a lot of cash for bribes.

Ranger seemed to be preoccupied with just watching Steph and holding her hand. Understandable. We all loved Steph and were all worried that she was hurt so badly. But Steph was Ranger's woman, that made it worse for him. Plus, he was probably blaming himself for her being kidnapped in the first place.

Tank walked up to Ranger and tried to get him to come back with us to plan the attack. Ranger said there was no fucking way he was leaving Steph. Tank said, " Bobby is caring for her right now. The way you can help her is by coming back and planning the attack so we can get her to the hospital." Ranger slowly nodded, kissed Steph's forehead, and came to the back.

Junior, and Ram joined the group and we started to plan. Once Ranger was with us, he seemed to snap back into military mode. He was really good with tactical planning. " Ok, we are about 15 minutes out from the hospital. They will have snipers outside the hospital trying to shoot us down before we get there. They have some pretty powerful weapons. The building will probably also be surrounded. Ram and I are the best snipers, so we'll sit on the skids and pick off as many as we can. We'll cover Tank and Junior to get them close to the building and they can take out the guards surrounding the outside. Then, I'll go in and secure the inside. Woody will stay here and help Bobby get Steph in when it is secure." He paused and looked back towards Steph, " We have to be fast. She doesn't have a lot of time." We asked a few questions to clarify our roles in the attack, then Ranger went back up to Stephanie.

Ranger's POV

I stroked the back of Steph's hand slowly. Feeling her warm, soft hand in mine was supposed to comfort her, but it reassured me as well. My eyes burned with fatigue. I hadn't slept in days. I had been on a covert CIA anti-terrorism mission deep in the caves of Afghanistan. I didn't do much work for the CIA anymore, but I was under contract and catching terrorists was important to my moral code. Plus, I would be paid well. What can I say? I'm a mercenary. It was such a remote area that we couldn't get cellphone or radio signals. It had taken a CIA courier a whole day to find me with the message that Steph had been kidnapped by Suarez.

Since then, my mind and body had been going day and night. Fuck the CIA, this was Steph, she was WAY more important than any damn contract. I left immediately and I'd had to walk through the desert to get transport out of Afghanistan, contacted Rangeman to be sure all the jungle combat gear would be ready for me when I got there, come up with enough cash for bribes, and arranged for getting quick transport to Columbia. I had been dropped in the middle of the fucking jungle.I had tried to contact Tank and the guys to rendezvous with them, but their cell and radio signals were non-existant in the jungles. I hadn't even known Steph was hurt so badly until I saw the guys carrying her on the stretcher. I and followed their trail to the copter; where I picked off the snipers. Now I was so exhausted my eyes burned and I couldn't think straight. But I had to. Steph needed me to get her the care she needed. It was my fault she was fighting for her life; I was not going to let her down.

Bobby's POV

I put a Kevlar vest lightly over Steph, and a helmet lightly over her head so that she wouldn't be hit by any stray bullets. Shit. This little takeover had better not take too long. Steph is a fighter but she was getting weaker and she wasn't going to be able to hang on much longer. Her blood pressure was very low and her pulse was weak. I covered as much of Steph's body as I could to protect her from stray fire. I grabbed my rifle. My job was to keep Steph alive; not fight our way into the hospital, but I wanted to be ready if anyone got past Ranger and Ram. Like that would ever happen.

I hoped that Steph would get the level of care she needed. Columbian hospitals were not exactly state- of- the-art. I guess the druglords aren't using any of their ill-gotten wealth to upgrade their hospitals. I hope they had a decent OR setup and decent equipment, not to mention a surgeon on duty. The equipment needed for Steph's surgery was fairly sophisticated, standard in any American hospital, but here in this hellhole country, who knew? Then there was the bribery problem. Doctors in Columbian hospitals were often paid by the drug lords to refuse to treat certain patients or to make them worse. I knew Ranger would threaten them with death if they didn't save her, and he'd probably also bribe them. But I intended to be right there with her in the OR so I could be certain they were doing everything they should to save her.

Ram's POV

I got the heads up from Tank that we were in sight of the hospital. I sat in the doorway of the chopper on one side. Ranger was sitting on the other side. We positioned ourselves so that we would be between Stephanie and any bullets. We all had our Kevlar on and Bobby had draped a Kevlar vest loosely over Steph. Not even a minute later, the first of the drug cartel's men shot at us; trying to hit the chopper's rotor. Ranger and I were expert snipers, usually slow and methodical in the kill. But now we were just aiming and firing round after round rapid fire from our automatic rifles, creating a thick rain of bullets. Ranger was actually standing on the landing skid. It gave him a better angle of sight; but it also made him a bigger target. Bobby and Woody were bent low over Steph, shielding her from any stray fire. Ranger and I let loose with the automatics, and soon the returning sniper fire was cut by half.

After a couple of minutes, the chopper descended not quite to the ground. Ranger and I rained down a hail of bullets as cover fire while Tank and Junior jumped to the ground and ran to the hospital building. We protected the copter while Junior and Tank went around the perimeter of the hospital; quietly killing drug cartel men. One guy jumped out of a bush and tried to fire a handgun at the rotor of the copter. Idiot. That would never hit the rotor from any distance. I picked him off.

Ranger left me to cover the chopper and jumped to the ground; running full on into the hospital building, Tank and Junior at his back. I provided cover fire while the chopper landed but there were no more snipers. Woody and Bobby straightened up and. Bobby was taking her vitals again and started to gather up Steph's IV and stuff, ready to race with her into the hospital OR.

Bobby's POV

Woody and I hunched over Steph, shielding her from gunfire with our bodies. Ranger and Ram were clearing the place out pretty fast, so hopefully she'd get into the OR soon. She hadn't really stirred throughout the commotion. We landed carefully and Woody and I started to gather up Steph's IV , getting ready to run with her as soon as the hospital was secure. I took her vitals again. Shit!

Ranger's POV

I ran into the hospital fast, not caring if I might be ambushed. I quickly dispatched the three cartel guys waiting there. The hospital personnel was cringing in fear at Tank, Junior, and I , all huge and in black, heavily armed and firing, entering the hospital. I grabbed a nurse. " Do you have an OR? Where is the doctor- the surgeon? I need the surgeon, " I yelled in Spanish. Shit. this place looked like a shitty hospital. Everything was really old. I'll be the equipment was bought in the 1970s. Shit. Hope they had the equipment to save Steph.

I pointed my rifle at the ceiling and fired a few shots. "Listen. We aren't going to hurt anyone. We need the surgeon." A small man came out and gingerly said, " I am the surgeon. We knew that you would be coming in. They ( he pointed to one of the dead guys) told us. The ER is ready." Tank and Junior ran to the OR to make sure it was clear.

I grabbed the doc by the coat. and spoke menacingly in Spanish. " Listen. I am bringing in my woman. She is needs surgery for internal bleeding fast. You are to fix her up well enough to get her back to the States. She will need a lot of blood. My men and I will donate it. . You will give her the best care you can. If she dies, I will hunt you down and torture you and all of your people and you will all die very prolonged, painful deaths. Understood?" The man nodded furiously. "Si, senor." And I will pay you twice what Juarez did to save her." I stuffed a wad of cash into his coat pocket. That is a deposit. You'll get the rest after you have saved her. Are we clear?" The surgeon nodded furiously.

I threw the man towards the OR and told him to get it ready. I nodded and Tank ran out to tell them to bring Steph in. I knew that Bobby would stay in the OR to make sure the doctors were giving Steph the right care. A few seconds later and I heard a commotion as Woody and Tank ran in with Steph on the stretcher, yelling, " Hurry! we need the OR NOW! My heart sunk as I saw Bobby running alongside the stretcher, counting to himself, his big hands locked together, pressing down vigourously over and over again on Steph's chest.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Thanks to all for all the reviews. I took some poetic licence with some of the medical stuff here. NJrangergirl-, I loved the monkey story. I'd love opinions on this chapter.

Mission to Columbia- Chapter 5

Junior's POV

I saw Woody and Tank run with the stretcher into the OR; Bobby running alongside, pushing down over and over on Steph's chest. Oh, fuck. This was not good. Bobby may be the medic; but we all had basic medical training. We all knew that a cardiac arrest from trauma was almost always fatal. Bobby would try to keep Steph's heart going and they could replace the blood volume that she lost; but her chances were pretty shitty.

I looked at Ranger's face and saw an expressionless mask- except for his eyes. His eyes were filled with anger and pain. So much anger it made me scared to look at him. His body was rigid and his fists were clenched. I hadn't ever seen him like this and I wasn't sure what he'd do. He tried to follow the stretcher into the OR, wanting to be with Steph but was stopped by Tank's huge hand on his shoulder." Ranger, man, lets go sit down. We'd get in the way." Ranger just stood there rigidly, almost as if in a trance, and I thought he might throw off Tank's hand and go in anyway. Tank repeated, "Lets stay out of the way man. Bobby will take care of her." Finally, Ranger seemed to snap out it and went to sit on a rickety chair.

Tank motioned for Woody and I to stand guard at the OR door, to keep anyone who didn't need to be there, including Ranger, out. My eyes met Woody's and we peeked in the OR window. Steph was being surrounded with doctors nurses, and equipment as Bobby kept pressing down on her chest. Fuck. Steph was dying.

I watched Ranger sit on the rickety old chair and stare straight ahead. He was silent, but not in his calm, peaceful zone. It was more like his, "I am so fucking pissed that I almost can't control it and if Steph dies I will lose control and all hell will break loose and I'll fucking kill everyone "zone. Steph was the only person Ranger had let himself have feelings for. Actually, he hadn't "let" himself love her; he had tried not to. But he hadn't been able to stop her from getting past his veneer and into his heart. I didn't know what would happen to him if he lost her.

He was sitting so still that it was surprising when he stood up and punched his fist through the wall. The sound of the wall breaking was startlingly loud in the stunned quiet that had descended over the room. He was talking, but I am not sure to who. "Dammit. This is exactly why I say that my life is not good for relationships. Steph is in there dying because of me. Anyone who knows me is in danger because of me. I should have just forced her to stay away. She'd even have been better off with Morelli than me. She wouldn't be dying because of him. Dammit. I. Should.Never.Have.Let. Her. Get.Involved.With.Me. " every word was punctuated with him tearing pieces of the wall down. Shit. I had never seen Ranger like this. It was scary when someone so controlled loses that control and goes crazy. I knew what he was capable of. And I didn't want to see if firsthand.

The outburst was so unexpected coming from someone as controlled as Ranger that none of us knew what to say. Finally, Tank, went over and sat next to him on the couch in silence. After a few moments, he said, "Yes, but you have protected her many times too. With all the trouble she gets into she might have been dead already if you weren't always there to protect her. Look at the Abruzzi thing." Ranger didn't even acknowledge Tank's statement, just sat there with his eyes radiating fury and pain.

We all just stood there feeling angry and helpless. We were six fucking powerful, badass guys, we could kill easily. We could handle any situation. We could fire any gun, use any weapon and win every fight. We were a fucking force to be recond with, taking on all the fucking druglords in Columbia if we had to. In every life and death situation, we came out alive.

My eyes slid to the OR doors, then down to my muscular biceps and I wondered what the fuck good it was to be muscular and strong and powerful, and stealthy and all that shit when none of our strength could save the one special girl that had gotten into all of our hearts. Except that maybe the strong biceps helped Bobby do good compressions. Fuck.

We were all hardened soldiers, mercenaries. Our world was cold ; Steph had brought warmth into it. She resurrected tenderness and laughter in us- things we thought had died. She made us civilized. And she made us love her, even though we didn't want to. If she died, we'd be cold heartless mercenaries again. Let's just say that it would be best for everyone to stay far the fuck away from us if Steph dies.

. Just because we were in the hospital didn't mean we were home free. The drug lords were not going to let us out of Columbia alive, if they could help it. . They would stop us any way they can. They were probably just regrouping now. Ram and Woody were just inside the door, reloading weapons. I peeked inside the OR again and saw Bobby and a whole bunch of people working on Steph.

Bobby's POV

I kept my hands on Steph's chest as we ran into the hospital. I had ripped her tattered shirt open for the CPR and the palms of my hands were on her breastbone. I could feel the supple give of her chest under my hands. I heard a couple of ribs crack. Shit. Oh, well, better cracked ribs than dead. I had lost her pulse about three minutes ago in the copter. We ran into the OR and the doctor hooked her up to an EKG machine and IV while I did CPR. We needed to get blood into her and surgery . While the doctor and nurse set up, and thought to myself."Stay with me Steph. They started fluid replacement to try to give her some of the blood she had lost. Shit. She couldn't die. Ranger was trusting me to save her. So were the guys. Fuck.

Ram's POV

I had finished donating a pint of blood for Steph. Mine was O , which meant anyone could receive it. Fuck. She could have more than a pint if she needed it. I'd give her as much as she needed. Anything to keep her alive. I had seen Junior peek into the OR and the grim expression on his face, so I knew things were not going well. Bobby would make sure they did everything they could to save her, but Steph's chances weren't good.

I couldn't bear to face Ranger. He'd counted on us to protect Steph while he was gone and we hadn't. We hadn't been able to prevent her from getting kidnapped and then we hadn't been able to rescue her and get her help before her fucking heart stopped from her injuries. Ranger trusts us with the thing he loves most and we let her get kidnapped and probably killed. All the muscles, all the fucking security, all the guns, all the fucking bravery we had and it hadn't prevented us from losing the one thing we cared about. I felt helpless and that is not a feeling that a powerful guy like me likes to have.

I looked around the hospital. There were some innocent civilians in here. They were screwed because I knew that the drug cartel wasn't through with us. They weren't going to let us get out of Columbia alive. They knew where we were. They were just waiting for the right time to attack.

The civilians see only a group of huge men heavily armed and in black, extremely pissed off, armed to the teeth and coming in shooting. An old man shied away from Tank and a young mother moves across the room from us.. They probably think we are part of the cartel. We hadn't hurt any of them, but they didn't know we wouldn't. Fuck. I didn't care about them. I only cared about Steph.

I gave them a menacing look so they will leave me alone and sat on the floor reloading our weapons. I was worried about Steph, and I found loading my gun to be comforting. My weapon was something I knew and that I had control over. If I did what I was supposed to do, the gun would do what it was supposed to. I looked toward the OR entrance- no one had control over what happened with Steph- not even Bobby. She would come back or she wouldn't, even if he did everything he could. My gun was very simple- I could always control what it did. It did only what I made it do. So maybe it makes me some sort of sicko, but loading the weapons was comforting to me.

I finished loading the rifles and gave one to Tank and Junior. Tank had just finished donating blood, and was going to replace Junior guarding the OR. No one was getting in there to disrupt the fight for Steph's life.

Planning the defense of the hospital too, was comforting. Shooting I knew, shooting I felt comfortable with. I tried to keep my thoughts from Steph, fighting for her life. None of us had let a woman close before. Steph was really the only woman we associated with. She brought laughter and goodness into our darkness. I wasn't sure I could handle it if we lost Steph. I knew Ranger couldn't handle it.

Tank's POV

I finally got Ranger to sit down and I went over to give blood for Steph. Ranger's face was impassive but I knew he was a mess inside. I had never seen him so out of control of his feelings. Even now, he was keeping them just below the surface, barely contained, visible only in his eyes. I looked toward the OR door. If Steph died, Ranger would be overcome with fury and I wasn't sure I could control him if that happened. So don't die, little girl, I whispered.

I got on the phone and called Rangeman, filling in Hal and the others about Steph's condition. They were worried and would want to know. I told them I would call them when I had any news.

I was scared for Steph, and I felt guilty that I had been on the watch when Steph was taken. If I had had someone on her it wouldn't have happened. If she pulled through, she was never going to be without a guard again, ever. Hell, it was our job to protect her and I guess we hadn't done such a great job. If I had planned this mission better, we'd be in the States by now. Fuck. I couldn't believe how much I cared for Steph. She was my best friend's woman, but she was also a charming, stubborn, cute, sweet girl. I hadn't wanted to like her; but she got past my defenses just like she had the rest of us.

Woody stayed on guard duty while Ram, Junior, and I strategize. Ranger just sat on the chair staring at the OR where Steph was. We had no fucking idea how many more of those assholes were out there. Probably a lot. We had about half our ammo left, plus the shit we stole from the guys we killed. It was a pretty good amount. Woody, and Ram would defend the hospital from within. Ranger and I would fan out outside the hospital and try to pin the assholes between us. Junior would stay exactly where he was, guarding Stephanie. Woody would be at the window. I would go to the roof and find a good sniper site to pick off the assholes as they came. I made sure we were all fucking ready. It did no good for Bobby to save Steph if we then all got killed in an ambush. I looked toward the OR, where Bobby was fighting for Steph's life. We would fight for her life, too.

Woody's POV

I saw the first gunshot penetrate the walls of the hospital and we jumped into action." Get down!" Tank yelled to the civilians. He went around the place pulling them onto the floor. They looked at us with terrified looks, hoping we would protect them. We would, but only because they were in the same place as Stephanie. I grabbed the automatic rifle and shot through the door at the assholes trying to kill us. I loved the sound the gun made when the bullets went flying all over.

The gunshots seemed to spur Ranger into action. He grabbed the other automatic rifle and ran outside blindly, not even caring if he had cover. He just ran outside and let loose with the automatic, shooting in an arc, spraying all the foliage and killing anyone hiding in it. Tank followed Ranger out and tried to pull him into cover. Ranger seemed to suddenly have a death wish. He ran toward the enemy, shooting wildly, not caring about his own safety. I guess he figured if Steph died, then it didn't matter if he did, too.

Ram had climbed onto the roof and found a semiprotected spot from which to shoot. I couldn't see him, but I could tell he was calmly searching the foliage for any sight of movement. The human eye is attracted to movement, so if they moved, Ram would kill them. I heard him firing methodically from the rooftop.

The woman in the building started to scream. I fucking hate screaming. That's one thing I liked about Steph. No matter what shit happened, she didn't scream like a banshee. I yelled at the woman to shut up but she kept screaming. shit. I was going to shoot her myself if she didn't shut the hell up. Finally, I turned to her and gave her a wicked look and she finally got the hint and quit screaming.

Bobby's POV

I heard heavy footsteps on the roof and knew Ram was up there. Gunshots sounded all around us. The doc looked up and looked around in fear. That pissed me off. Concentrate man, fuck. Part of me itched to have a gun in my hand taking out my frustration and fear for Steph by blowing some cartel fuckers away. I knew the guys would protect the hospital and the OR. "Pay the fuck attention to Stephanie, dammit!"

Tank's POV

I couldn't really spend much time blowing away the bad guys because I was busy keeping Ranger from getting his ass shot off. He had gone completely fucking crazy, with no Kevlar, running full on into the trees, shooting anything that moved. I kept having to grab him and pull him to cover from the enemies gunfire. " Are you fucking crazy?", I scream at him. "You want Steph to pull through only to have you get killed because you did something stupid?

We were engaged in a one on one firefight with one of the cartel guys, one of their few actual good shots. Ranger had an automatic in one hand and a Glock in the other. He was full on shooting, and with his damn tool belt he looked like fucking Rambo. But Rambo couldn't be killed. Ranger could. The thing was, I didn't think he cared at that point if he got killed or not. It didn't matter. I would go where he went and I would put myself in the line of fire to protect his crazy ass. I owed it to him for letting Steph get kidnapped.

I couldn't see Ram on the roof of the hospital, but I knew he was there. Bullets were systematically flying from the roof into the heads of the bad guys.. He was shooting a lot more slowly than we were, but he was being more precise and accurate. I admired his calm. I wanted to just shoot the shit out of everyone, but I couldn't.

Junior's POV

I heard gunshots behind me and turned to see that two guys had made it past Woody and were heading into the OR. No fucking way. I hid in a doorway and got into a firefight with the guys. I got winged in the shoulder. It hurt a lot , but it was just a flesh wound, blood merely trickling from it.

Woody was crouched in the front room of the hospital, shooting methodically as rounds flew from his automatic rifle. He kept having to move the civilians to more protected spaces. I covered him while he stopped to reload. Fuck. We didn't have a ton of ammo left, and Ranger was shooting everything that fucking moved. At that rate we'd have no fucking ammo left. It seemed like every time we killed one, another popped up. Bullets came from the direction of the OR. They were trying to get in to get Steph and Bobby. Ram climbed off the roof and snuck up on the guy shooting at the OR, twisting his neck until it snapped.

I had to admit that I was kind of enjoying the firefight. It helped to take away my worry about Steph. Nothing like a huge fucking shootout to relive stress. Unfortunately, the shooting started to die out, as we killed more and more of the cartel guys.

Bobby's POV

I left the OR with a deep sigh. We had spent what seemed like forever with Steph. Christ, I was exhausted. For the first time ever, my knees gave out and I sunk into a chair. I needed a minute to calm down. I put my head in my hands for a moment and noticed that my hands were shaking. My hands never shook, not even in a firefight, never. Not even when my life was in danger. But the stress of fighting for Steph's life had them shaking uncontrollably. I knew the guys were counting on me to save her. I waited a minute or so for the shaking to stop, then I forced myself to get up. I had to go tell the guys about Steph.

.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks for all the feedback-keep it coming. I actually wrote two versions of this chapter. This is the one I figured most everyone would want. I have a much darker version. If you want to read it, send me a message and let me know.

Chapter 6

Woody's POV

We were spread out all over the hospital, firing and killing as many of the enemy as we could. Ranger was right out in the open, firing all over the place, like fucking Rambo, not caring if he got shot. As soon as I saw Bobby come out, I stopped firing. He looked very tired, but his face was impassive so I couldn't tell if it was good news or bad news about Steph. Eventually, Ram also saw him and he stopped firing. Ranger was still firing away. So Tank came up behind him and pointed to Bobby. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Bobby , waiting, as if he were a fucking magician about to perform a trick or something. Ranger had a look in his eye that I had never seen before, somewhere between furious and homicidal. The way he looked at Bobby, I was worried that he might turn the anger on Bobby if there was bad news. I got myself ready to help restrain Ranger, just in case.

Bobby looked at us and said, "Steph survived the cardiac arrest and surgery." Instantly, we all got huge stupid-looking grins on our faces and did high fives. 'Yes,!", Junior yelled. Steph calls us "Merry Men" , which we usually aren't ; but that name fit us perfectly at this moment. Bobby held up his hands for attention. " She survived the immediate crisis, but she isn't out of the woods yet. The surgery was rudimentary. She will need more delicate surgery when we get to the States. Her spleen was ruptured and there is internal damage and recovery from that takes a long time. Also, she was in cardiac arrest for a significant period of time before we could replace her fluid volume. We don't know if there will be any type of permanent damage from that. Right now, her heart is beating and we got the internal bleeding stopped. But she would still be critical in an American hospital."

I looked at Ranger and he looked like he might pass out from relief. Never mind that Bobby had told us Steph could still die, at least she hadn't yet. Ranger smiled what Steph calls his "2,000 watt smile."

Tank's POV

I was trying to get Ranger's apparently suicidal ass out of the line of fire when I saw Bobby come out of the hospital and everything stopped. Except Ranger. He was still firing into the trees like a fucking madman. I came up behind him and motioned towards Bobby. I followed Ranger over to where Bobby was. I couldn't tell from Bobby's face if the news was good or bad, so I positioned myself where I could restrain Ranger if it turned out that Steph had died. Shit, I didn't even want to think about the words "Steph and 'died" in the same thought.

When Bobby told us that Steph had survived, I thought my knees were going to buckle. Me, big, mean, scary Tank almost got weak kneed at the news that we hadn't lost Steph. That's just the affect she has on us. We all love her. When Bobby sprang the news that Steph was still in critical condition, I sobered. "Fuck," I heard Ram say. The thought of some kind of permanent damage to Steph was just unthinkable. Well, if it happened, we'd deal with it.

Ranger walked up to Bobby and did one of those complicated , secret handshakes that us guys always do. " Thanks, man. Thanks for saving her."Bobby said, " No problem, boss. I told her I would stay with her if she stayed with me. She should be out from the anesthesia soon, but she probably won't be conscious very long. As soon as she stabilizes, we should get the hell out of here."

Ram and Woody went to finish off the rest of the bad guys. I watched Ranger go inside to see her, and got on the phone, trying to make arrangements to get us home.

Ranger's POV

From the time I saw Bobby come into the hospital pushing on Steph's chest, I was in a blind fury. My rational mind had gone and just my guttural emotion was present. I couldn't contain it any longer. I had known I was out of control and I didn't care. If Steph had died, well, I am not sure what the fuck I would have done. But it would have been really ugly.

As I walked into the OR, my rage instantly calmed at the sight of Steph. I got angry seeing how fragile and delicate she looked. She still looked like shit, but just knowing she was alive calmed me. Steph was unconscious but I just took her hand and stroked it. "Babe!"

Next day, -Private hospital in Trenton, NJ

Bobby's POV

I sat in the chair next to Steph's bed, just watching the rise and fall of her chest. She had just gotten through the complications to major surgery to repair the internal damage. This was the first quiet moment I had had since we found Steph in Columbia. I had been so busy taking care of her that I hadn't had time to think about anything else.

We had gotten a private medical flight out of Columbia. I had spent the flight caring for Steph. Ranger hadn't left her side the entire flight. He had really pissed me of when he had suggested getting a nurse to care for Steph on the way back and during recovery. Fuck the nurse. Steph was my patient. I would take care of her on the flight, just like I had in the jungle and in that damn shitty Columbian hospital. I had gotten her through the worst, and I was not going to stop taking care of her now. Not ever.

That didn't mean I'd liked the pressure. All the guys, Ranger especially, had expected me to just fix her. Their confidence in me was enormous but I wasn't a miracle worker. I saw the bruises on her chest and remembered the ache in my arms from doing compressions for so long, knowing that I had no real control over if Steph came back or not. No matter what I did, I might have still lost her. Especially in that shitty hospital with the shitty doctor who didn't really even know what to do to save her. I had to tell him.

I could relax now. She was in an American hospital, where they had good doctors. I looked at the modern equipment next to the bed, ready if she needed it. She wouldn't, but it was reassuring to know it was there. I sighed and relaxed now that I could trust someone else with her care. I was exhausted but I wasn't going to leave Steph alone. I stroked her hand. "You're going to be ok, sweetie." She would. I'd make sure. I fell asleep in the chair holding her hand.

Lester's POV

I fucking hate hospitals. They smell like antiseptic that is trying to cover up the smells of puke and vomit. Not to mention the moans of people in pain. Bad sights, bad smells, bad noises, and really bad food. Only for Steph would I come to a hospital for any reason other than me bleeding to death.

I got to intensive care and saw Woody and Hal guarding the door. Ranger looked like shit, like he was about to collapse. I'm told he hasn't slept in several days. " I want to be with her," Ranger said to Tank through clenched teeth. " I don't want her to be alone when she wakes up." "Boss, you haven't slept in days, you have been on three different continents in the last four days, you look like you are about to fall over." He did look like hell, but he refused to go to sleep. Tank nodded to Hal and they both came over to Ranger. He must have been even more tired than I thought because they easily cornered him, stun guns in hand. " Boss, I hate to do this, but if you don't lie down and sleep, Hal and I will have to stun you." I had to chuckle. I bet Hal would like to be on the giving end of the stun gun and not the receiving end for once. Still, he had a very uncertain look on his face , pretty certain he'd get killed if he stunned Ranger. Tank said, "Come on boss. Don't make me stun you. Go to sleep. You know we'll take care of Steph." Ranger looked stubborn and gave in. "Ok, she isn't to be left alone. ""We won't leave her alone, boss." Ranger backed off and sprawled on the narrow bed in a room down the hall from Steph's.

I went into Steph's room and found Bobby asleep in the chair. He woke up suddenly. "Stay with her for awhile. She should be waking up soon. But they don't want her moving around too much. They're afraid if she moves too much she'll hurt herself. " He took one more look at Steph and left.

I finally focused on Steph. She looked really bad. She didn't even look like herself, she looked like some fragile little creature, attached to all those machines. Fuck! I hate hospitals. They reminded me that even strong people can become weak and helpless. And I didn't like that feeling. Steph looked so helpless. Her face was bruised and covered with an oxygen mask. One arm had a huge surgical bandage on it. Her chest was bruised and bound tightly against cracked ribs from Bobby's CPR. Fuck. I didn't even want to think about how close she'd come to dying. She filled up a big empty space in all of us and if we lost her , I don't know what we'd do. So we weren't ever going to let her be in a position where we could lose her again. Her abdomen was covered with a surgical bandage. She was attached to a heart monitor and she had an IV in one arm, flashing little lights and beeping. Suarez and his men had done this to her. Fuckers were going to die. If Ranger didn't get them, I would.

I squeezed her hand. "Hey, beautiful, Its Lester. Bobby, Junior, Ram and Woody finally quit hogging you in Columbia and brought you here to me. She started to move restlessly. She was waking up. Her eyelids fluttered. "Open your eyes, sweetie. I want to see those beautiful blue eyes." After a lot of fluttering, she managed to open her eyes and focus on me. She looked like she didn't know what was going on. She tried to talk, but couldn't because of the oxygen mask. I I thought I'd seen her lips say "Ranger." "It's ok, sweetheart. You are in a hospital. You were hurt very badly but you're going to be ok. Just rest." Well, I wasn't sure she was going to be ok. Technically, she was still critical, but she didn't know that. I saw her lips say "Ranger" again. " Ranger's sleeping. He'll be here soon. Just rest now."

I heard a commotion outside the door where Woody and Hal stood guard. The doctor huffed inside the door, annoyance in his face. He clearly didn't like being challenged by two huge, heavily armed and muscular men in black in his own hospital. Too damn. Bad. Dr. Brauman. He looked at me and said, " No one in ICU is supposed to have visitors. I need to examine Stephanie. You have to leave." No fucking way was I leaving her. I said, " Go ahead examine her, but I'm going to stay." The doctor looked up from where he'd been looking at Steph's chart. "If you don't leave I 'll have to call security and have you thrown out." I drew myself up to me full six foot three inch height to emphasize my full 220lb body and my fully loaded utility belt, crossed my arms over my chest so he could see the bulging of my biceps and said, " You are welcome to try." I guess he realized the futileness of that gesture because he just ignored me and continued examining Steph.

Tank's POV

Steph had been in the hospital for a couple of days and she was looking a little better. They had upgraded her from "critical" to "serious" She still had oxygen and an IV, and a heart monitor. She was pretty much out of the woods now, but it still pissed me off to see her looking so fragile like that. It reminded me of the pain I'd felt when I was afraid she had died. I don't like that kind of pain. Physical pain I can deal with. I can't deal with emotional pain. Which is why none of us guys really let ourselves have emotions. Except for Steph. They wanted her to stay until her abdomen had healed slightly and so they could determine if there was any permanent damage.

She, of course, didn't want to be there. She had tried to convince all of us to sneak her out and back to Rangeman, but of course none of us would. She could barely sit up because of the damage to her abdomen but still she was trying to get out of bed. That's our Steph. Bobby was furious because she'd ripped off the heart monitor leads trying to get out of bed. Of course, the monitor's alarm went off and it showed a flat line and Bobby and a nurse came running in, frantic. He was so angry with her for scaring him like that he told Ranger if Steph tried to get out of bed one more time he was going to have her cuffed to the rails.

Ranger was with her almost constantly. We didn't know how much of the ordeal she remembered, because Ranger didn't want us to upset her by asking about it. She had found out , probably from the nurses, how close she had come to dying, though.

Steph's POV

I still feel like shit, but I am getting better. Looking pretty scary, though. Ranger or one of the guys are with me every minute, telling me to rest, or whatever. I tried to talk Hal into sneaking me out of here but he said "Steph, no way. You can hardly sit up. " Then, he'd told Ranger. Butthead. I am still on this oxygen because it is kinda hard to breathe because of my cracked ribs. But better cracked ribs than dead. I thanked Bobby for saving my life –Again! He smiled and said, "No problem Steph. If we'd been guarding you, you never would have been hurt in the first place." They all look at me and treat me like I am some fragile little thing, which, right now, maybe I am. I am going to sleep now, Lester promised to smuggle me in a few Tastycakes tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

Mission in Columbia- Chapter 7

Ranger's POV

Steph has been in the hospital for almost two weeks. They wanted to keep her until most of the abdominal surgery stuff has healed. They still have her on an IV and they are giving her tests. She is on pain meds, and they make her groggy. She, of course, absolutely hates this. So do I. All the times she has been to the hospital for stitches have never really bothered me, but to see her still here for something so serious still pisses me off. She is still so weak. She is only two weeks into what will probably be a lengthy recovery. She can walk a little, but mostly is to be in bed and be careful until her spleen and ribs heal. She is on a restricted diet, which consists only of what she calls "yucky stuff."

Bobby has been working closely with the doctors here, as he will take over her care when she goes home in a few days. I still am horrified by how close we came to losing her. I haven't pressed her for the details of her captivity, but I got enough info from Tank and the guys to make me feel homicidal. I want to talk to her about it, but she is still so helpless. I want to wait until she is stronger. I definitely don't want to upset her.

Despite the fact that she has difficulty moving and walking, she has managed to keep me and the guys on our toes. One of my men has been posted outside her room 24/7, and that has been as much to keep her IN as to keep others OUT. There is almost always someone with her in the room, too, trying to keep her entertained so she doesn't get bored and do something to hurt herself.

I knew the guys would do anything for me, but I am so grateful for how well they took care of Steph in Columbia. They love her, too. She'd be dead if it weren't for them. I know they were also terrified of losing her. Now, they are going out of their way to keep her safe and entertain her, even when they aren't on duty. Lester smuggled in Tastycakes and some of her mom's Pineapple upside down cake. Ram hooked a DVD player into her TV and brought her Ghostbusters and a bunch of other movies. Woody even went to her apartment to get her makeup, lip gloss and mascara when she got upset with how ugly her bruises looked and wanted to fix herself up. Steph isn't really a flowers type of girl, so they brought her a tiny stuffed teddy bear dressed like a doctor and a HUGE candy basket. Hal is personally caring for her hamster, Rex.

My men have orders that she is never to be alone, even when she is sleeping. I am not taking the risk of her ever getting kidnapped again. Even when they come to examine her or do a procedure, someone is with her. My guys are very careful to respect her privacy and her vulnerability, but they aren't going to risk having ANYONE alone with her. The doctors didn't like it, but Steph doesn't seem to mind.

Tank's POV

Steph has been home from the hospital for a week now, but Ranger had ordered her confined to bed. Poor Bobby has been charged with the task of keeping her there. She is mostly healed, but still is sore in the abdomen and ribs. The docs say it could take weeks for her to get all her strength and stamina back. They don't know Stephanie.

I looked up as Bobby walked into the control room, looking tired. " Hey, How's Steph doing?," I asked. Bobby sighed and rubbed his neck. " She is doing well. I really can't keep her in bed any longer. She is going apeshit up there. She has already watched Ghostbusters about 10 times and if I hear that song one more time I will fucking kill someone." I asked, " Well, is she ready to come do some light work for just an hour or so? I don't want her to tire herself out." Bobby looked surprised that Ranger would allow Steph to come back to do searches even for an hour or so a day. Ranger had been seriously overprotective of her since she'd come home from the hospital. Shit, we all had. The first day back, Ranger had carried her the five steps from his bed to the bathroom. We had come so close to losing her that we weren't ever going to let her get hurt again. "I'd have to call and convince him and she'd have to promise to behave." Bobby laughed, " Like THAT is ever going to happen."

The third day that Steph was home and healing, Ranger had gone out of town for a "business trip". Woody, Junior, Bobby, Ranger, and I had discussed in detail the mission in Columbia and all that had happened to Steph in a long meeting in the conference room. He asked specific questions and got detailed answers. He asked how we had gotten in, how we had found Steph, and exactly what happened to her. He asked if she was raped and I said I didn't think so. He didn't want to ask her because he didn't want to upset her. He'd said, " Those bastards nearly killed Steph. They are going to pay." We helped him strategize and plan the mission, making sure he had plenty of resources. Then he geared up and announced that he'd be out of town for at least a week. We knew he was going back to Columbia to kill every drug dealer fuckhead who had anything to do with hurting Steph. I wanted to go with him, but he said he needed me here more. That was true. Ranger was a fucking one man army, a forced to be reconed with.

He had told Stephanie that he had to deal with some urgent business at one of the other Rangeman offices so she wouldn't worry. None of us were to say anything to her about where he'd gone, just that he was away on business. He didn't want her using her energy worrying about him when she'd need it to get better. Now she was getting restless and needed something non-strenuous to do. She could work for an hour or so every day, under certain conditions. I wrote a memo to all the guys at Rangeman letting them know Steph was coming to work and they should keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't strain herself. Also, that she should not be out of sight.

Lester's POV

It was late morning when the elevator bell chimed and we all looked up to see Steph being escorted off by Bobby. She looked pale and slight, as if she had lost a lot of weight. Her eyes were shadowed and she looked a bit fragile. She probably had lost weight eating that hospital food shit. Everyone in the room smiled and there was a chorus of "hey, Stephs!" from the guys.

She broke into one of her huge Stephanie grins. She can get any of us guys, including Ranger, to do whatever she wants when she flashes that grin. Not today though. All of us Rangeman employees had been given a strict list of things we shouldn't let Steph do ( leave the building, leave our sight, work too hard, etc.) and things she should do ( take breaks, eat, drink water). Anyone who failed to adhere to the list would be fired immediately and God knew what would happen to them when Ranger got back. All of us were feeling extra overly protective of her lately, anyway , so no problem with the list. In fact, we'd probably add things to it.

Tank went over to her. " Hey, Steph , you are looking good." Ok, that was a lie, but she looked a hell of a lot better than she has since the kidnapping. He hugged her carefully, probably afraid of crushing her or hurting her ribs. All the rest of us in the control room came over, almost swarming her in our enthusiasm to see her up and about again. We'd all missed her a lot. Rangeman was a boring place without her here. After a few minutes, Tank ended the fuss."Ok, lets get back to work. He looked at all of us. Men, you have your orders." We all knew that meant he expected us to follow the orders about Stephanie. I escorted her to her cubby and her chair. There were two files on her desk. She switched on the computer. " Ok, don't work too long. Yell if you need anything."

Steph's POV

I didn't have to worry about yelling or needing anything, because within the hour, Tank, Ram, and Lester had come into my cubicle to see if "everything was ok." Sweet that they were so concerned about me. In the past, their testosterone-induced overprotectiveness had annoyed me, but now I was mostly touched. I knew that I had almost died and how upset they'd all been about that. I also knew that now they were all going to be horribly, smotheringly overprotective of me. It would wear off, I'm sure, but until then, I really didn't mind. I guess it was sweet that they cared so much. And I am sure Ranger had given them "Stephanie orders" before he left.

I was a bit tired and my ribs and abdomen were still sore. And I didn't have a lot of energy. But otherwise I felt ok. Except for missing Ranger. He had left on an urgent business trip a couple days after I had gotten home from the hospital. He said he'd be back soon but I am not sure what soon means. Or what kind of "business" his trip might entail.

I finished the two searches that had been left on my desk. They'd been so simple I suspected someone had just made them up so I'd have something to do. I stretched and realized I was hungry. There was probably Ranger food in the break room. I needed a break anyway.

I got up and went to the bathroom. I cringed at the sight of my face in the mirror. I looked like hell. Better than before, but still hell. I tried to fix my hair the best that I could. As I left the bathroom, I ran into a brick wall. The brick wall was named Ram. He had just been about to knock on the door when I opened it. "Hey, Steph. Doing ok?" Yikes. Apparently, the Rangemen were even timing how long I was in the bathroom and coming to check on me if they felt it was too long. Like maybe they were afraid I was so weak I'd fall into the toilet and drown or something. And since guys can pee in 10 seconds standing up, they don't understand why a woman might need five minutes to fix her hair. Apparently there was a memo that said, " Check on Steph if she is in the bathroom more than 3 minutes." I smiled at Ram. " I'm good. Just hungry." I went off to the break room to look for something edible. I had eaten crappy hospital food for a long time. Then, Bobby would only let me eat healthy food when I as in bed.

I searched the fridge and the snacks laid out , but I only found yucky healthy Ranger food. I was pretty sure that I had hidden some Tastycakes in the cupboards above the fridge. I had to put them up really high since all the guys here are at least six foot four. I hoisted myself onto the counter to get them. My arms were pretty shaky and I felt a little lightheaded, but nothing that a Tastycake wouldn't cure. I had one foot on he counter and the other braced against the top of the fridge. I could see the tastycake. Now I just had to reach it. AAAAHHHHH!!

Woody's POV

I walked into the breakroom to get a snack and saw Steph standing balanced precariously between the sink and the fridge. What the hell? That would definitely be on the list of things Steph shouldn't do. I grabbed her by the waist and picked her up off the counter. AAAAHHHHH!! she yelped, thinking she was falling. The cry wasn't out of her mouth before Lester, Tank, and Bobby came running in, alerted by her cry. They think she fell or she washurt. Nice to know they are as tense about her safety as I am. I whirled her around to face me and gently put her feel on the floor- where they belong. "Its ok, guys, " I said " Steph was just trying to break her neck." I may have been a bit harsh but she scared the hell out of me up there like that. She was not in any condition to be climbing around. We didn't save her in Columbia just to have her kill herself here.

She looked at us and smiled that damn "this smile is so cute that the guys will give in and let me have whatever I want " smile. And damn it , that usually worked. " Sorry to scare you guys. I was just trying to get down the Tastycakes I hid up there." Tank looked at her sternly and said that she should have asked one of us to get it for her. Climbing up there was dangerous when she was still weak. Steph said she would have, but she didn't think we'd have gotten it for her. Good point and she's probably right.

I got the Tastycakes for her and Bobby gave her water to wash them down with. She ate and then went back to her cubby. Funny, but you can see everyone in the room's eyes track her every movement, as if they are afraid she'll disappear if they take their eyes off her.

I know we have all been very overprotective of her, but we can't help it. First of all, Ranger's orders were explicit. But we would have treated her the same way even without his orders. We had come so close to losing her that now we were afraid to even let her out of our sight. She used to say it was "smothering" and maybe it was, but it was our job to keep her safe. We hadn't done that and she had gotten kidnapped. We won't let that happen again. If it means we have to "smother "her, so be it.

Tank called me into his office and we went over some intelligence information Ranger wanted. We were engaged in analyzing some secret information when we heard a light knock on the door. "Enter!", yelled Tank. The door opened and Steph's came in. Tank and I shot out of our chairs and looked up guiltily, as if we were talking about things we didn't want her to hear. Which we were. " Stephanie? Is something wrong? , Tank asked gently in his deep voice. It was amazing how gentle we all got around Steph. He stood up and told her to sit down in his chair.

" I didn't mean to disturb you, but I was wondering…I mean, I know that you know but maybe you can't tell me or maybe you can and you just don't want to but I have to know…" Tank and I looked at her expectantly. She could talk all around ANY subject. " Um, I am worried about Ranger. Where is he? Do you know when he'll come back? Is he safe?

Tank looked at me and shook his head minutely. Ranger didn't want Steph to know where he was. " Um, Stephanie, " Tank said. " Ranger is out of town on business. He is fine. He should be home within the week. And he wouldn't want you to waste your energy worrying about him. So don't." Way to go Tank. Just tell her not to worry like its an order. That will help. Steph looked like she wanted to ask more but she just said, " You are sure he's ok?" Tank crouched down next to her and said, "Steph, Ranger is fine. If he wasn't, I would know." She seemed satisfied with that, but she still had that look of fragility in her face. Tank said, " Look, Steph. You got your work done. Why don't you go back upstairs and rest?" She smiled and said, " I will in a little while. I am not really tired yet." She got up and left the office. Tank had lied to her. He had no idea if ranger was safe or not. Probably not.

Thirty minutes later, I was sitting in my cubicle, watching the video feeds from the otehr cubicles. I hadn't seen Steph on her cubicle camera- no movement- just blank space. I went over to see what was happening and I saw her slumped over the desk, her head cradled on her arms, fast asleep. She looked so sweet and vulnerable it made my heart wrench. I called the other guys over to see. She had said she wasn't tired enough to sleep, but apparently the fatigue had come upon her suddenly. She looked adorable. I carefully picked her up and held her to me. She didn't even stir the whole way up to Ranger's apartment. I took off her shoes and laid her in the bed under the covers. I wasn't about to take off her clothes- not going there. She let out a slight wimper and snuggled into the bedcovers.

Hal's POV

I had to take Steph to her follow-up doctor's appointment. It was the first time she'd left the Rangeman building since she'd returned from the hospital. She said she was feeling better and didn't need to go to the doctor, but Tank had insisted. Ranger would kill all of us if we didn't make sure she was getting proper medical care. She seemed like she was recovering, but she seemed kinda sad- I think she missed Ranger a lot. She was smiling today though- and joking about me not talking much. I don't have to- she talks enough for both of us.

I am taking the responsibility of this trip seriously. I am not going to lose Steph on her first trip out. She wanted me to drop her off and go park and meet me in the office; but that wasn't happening. My orders were not to let her out of my sight. So I parked in the garage and we took the elevator.

It was a little awkward in the doctor's office. I sat next to Steph as she filled out her follow up health questionnaire. We had a long wait and I sat there in my zone- still but alert. Steph was reading an outdated magazine. She got called to go into the office and I wasn't sure what to do. I couldn't go in with her. That stuff was private and even if it wasn't it would be awkward as hell. But orders are orders. If she went into the office she'd be out of my sight. I followed the nurse and Steph to the examining room, and I insisted that I check it first before Steph went in there. Call me paranoid, but I wasn't taking any chances. I couldn't stay in the room while they did who knows what to Steph. I let her go in as I went out. I told her I would be right outside the door of the examining room, and to call if there was a problem. And that is where I stayed. I got weird looks from the staff, but I didn't care. I had orders.

Steph's POV

Yesterday the doctor told me I was healing as expected and that I am almost back to normal strength. Try telling that to the guys. They were still treating me like I was fragile. Instead of pestering me to work out in the gym, Tank was telling the guys to take me on walks. Like an old lady. Tank still wasn't letting me work more than half a day. I went to apprehend my first skip this afternoon, feeling good to be back in the groove. I went with Bobby and Hal, who told me to wait in the car and be"lookout" while they apprehended the skip for me. So much for being back to normal.

I was in Ranger's apartment, just finishing the delicious dinner that Ella made and was flipping through the paper. A headline on page three caught my eye and suddenly I knew where Ranger was and what he was doing. He may be ok, but he definitely wasn't safe.

The headline said:

ENTIRE COLUMBIAN DRUG CARTEL EXECUTED

Just as he said he would, Ranger was killing all the assholes responsible for hurting me. I wasn't sad about their deaths. They SO deserved it.


	8. Chapter 6 Alternate DARK versionANGST

Here is the dark version of Chapter 6, for those who wanted it. ANGST alert! Let me know what you think.

Mission in Columbia- Ch. 6- Dark Version

_I left the OR with a deep sigh. We had spent what seemed like forever with Steph. Christ, I was exhausted. For the first time ever, my knees gave out and I sunk into a chair. I needed a minute to calm down. I put my head in my hands for a moment and noticed that my hands were shaking. My hands never shook, not even in a firefight, never. Not even when my life was in danger. But the stress of fighting for Steph's life had them shaking uncontrollably. I knew the guys were counting on me to save her. I waited a minute or so for the shaking to stop, then I forced myself to get up. I had to go tell the guys about Steph._

Ch. 6

Bobby's POV

I sat there trying to still my trembling hands and keep the tears from my eyes. My arms ached from doing compressions on Stephanie for over an hour. That doctor was useless and so I had to do everything. And I tried everything. I kept pumping her over and over and over while they did the blood transfusions. Nothing worked. I did compressions over and over and watched the flat green line trace across the screen with no movement, indicating she was dead. The doctor tried to get me to stop, but I worked on her long after that, hoping that THIS shock or THIS round of drugs would work and I would save her. But it didn't, and after almost an hour of watching that straight green line bouncing up and down as I continued my endless pumping her chest, blurry through my tears, I finally had to admit defeat. The room went from mass confusion to perfectly still and silent except for the wailing alarm on the heart monitor indicating the futility of my efforts.

I looked down at her beautiful blue eyes, staring into oblivion and I caressed her check. " I am sorry, honey. I am so sorry. I tried everything." I picked up the BP cuff and threw it against the wall. No matter what I tried, nothing worked. I felt so fucking useless- all my muscles, all my strength and I couldn't bring her back.

I knew Ranger and the guys were going to hate me. Hell, I hated myself. Part of me wanted to go back and work on her some more, to keep trying, not to give up, like I could get her back if I just kept at it long enough. But I knew it had been too long for her to ever come back. I forced myself to go out and tell the guys. And Ranger.

Woody's POV

We were spread out all over the hospital, firing and killing as many of the enemy as we could. Ranger was right out in the open, firing all over the place, like fucking Rambo, not caring if he got shot. As soon as I saw Bobby come out, I stopped firing. He looked very tired, but his face was impassive so I couldn't tell if it was good news or bad news about Steph. Eventually, Ram also saw him and he stopped firing. Ranger was still firing away. So Tank came up behind him and pointed to Bobby. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Bobby , waiting, as if he were a fucking magician about to perform a trick or something. Ranger had a look in his eye that I had never seen before, somewhere between furious and homicidal. The way he looked at Bobby, I was worried that he might turn the anger on Bobby if there was bad news. I got myself ready to help restrain Ranger, just in case.

Bobby 's face was impassive, but as he got closer, we could all see the tears brimming in his eyes. Oh, no. Oh, shit, no! He went up to us, to Ranger in the middle of the group and his voice broke as he spoke. " I 'm so sorry . We, I… lost her." He broke down when he said that and I patted his shoulder as a masculine form of comfort. " I tried everything, CPR, drugs, shocks, nothing worked. Her heart was just too long without blood to pump. I spent almost two hours working on her – trying to get her back, but I couldn't." He looked into Ranger's dark smoldering eyes, and said, "I am so sorry. " Bobby put his head into his hands and his body shook. He must have been in agony since he'd been the one trying to save her. I had never seen him cry before, but I am sure he was shedding silent tears of frustration and helplessness.

None of us moved, in shock that the unimaginable had become reality. Steph was dead. I felt my heart overtaken by an immense emptiness and an almost unbearable pain. For the first time since I was a child, I felt myself on the verge of tears. I couldn't even imagine how Ranger felt. He stood there unmoving, not even blinking after he had gotten the news. Tank came over and put his hand on Ranger's shoulder. " I am so sorry, man.", he said, his voice breaking. That must have spurned Ranger back to reality because he charged at Bobby and knocked him on the ground. " You fucking let her die. Why didn't you save her you bastard." Ranger was punching Bobby in the face and stomach. Bobby was just taking it, not even trying to defend himself, as if he felt Ranger's accusations were true.

It took Ram, Tank, and I to get Ranger off of Bobby. Bobby had at least a black eye and probably several cracked or broken ribs from Range punching him. Ranger seemed to have gotten all the anger out of his system, and stood slumped over. " I want to see her, " he said through gritted teeth. " I want to see her." Tank came over and put his arm on Ranger's shoulders. " Ranger, man, you don't want to see her the way she is now. You want to remember her full of life with her beautiful smile and blue eyes." Ranger tensed and repeated, barely above a growl, " I want to see her." It occurred to me that a guy like Ranger, used to being in control of every situation, wouldn't take anyone else's word that she was dead, not even the word of a trusted friend. He'd want to see for himself.

Bobby was picking himself up off the ground. " Ok, man. You can see her. Just give me a few minutes to get her cleaned up." Tank grabbed Ranger and pulled him off to the side so Bobby could get up.

Bobby's POV

I went back into the hospital OR and was taken aback at seeing Steph lying so lifeless on the table. I still couldn't believe that she'd never smile at me again. I knew Ranger would want to see proof for himself that she was dead, but I wanted to clean her up so that his last memory of her wouldn't be like this. The aftermath of a resuscitation, especially an unsuccessful one, is usually messy. There were empty syringes on the floor, dumped there in haste after administering them to her. I took the tube out of Steph's throat and the tube needle from her arm. Her shirt was open and her chest was bruised and sticky . I left the EKG monitor on, knowing Ranger would want proof she was gone. I pulled her shirt closed and buttoned it. I stroked her cheek and whispered, "Ranger is coming, honey" as if she were alive. I stroked my hand over a lock of her hair and went to get Ranger.

He walked slowly into the room and winced at seeing Steph so deathly still on the table. His eyes tracked from her still form to straight green line on the EKG screen. I took in the look of despair on his face and shut the door to give him a few moments of privacy with her.

Junior's POV

We all just sat in stunned silence. None of the battle around us even seemed to matter. We were all so focused on our disbelief that Steph was gone forever. I couldn't bear to even think the word "dead" next to Steph's name. Bobby was looking like shit. I could tell he blamed himself for losing Steph. But it wasn't his fault, any more than it was any of ours.we'd all done everything we could and it still hadn't fucking been enough. We were supposed to protect her, but we couldn't save her from this. Bobby was just sitting on the steps staring into space. Tank and Ram were making sure all the bad guys had been dispatched. Ranger had been in the hospital OR with Steph for almost half an hour now.

Finally, the door opened and he came out- a look of total blankness on his face and in his eyes. He went up to Tank and spoke silently to him for a minute or so, then grabbed all the rest of the ammo and took off. We tried to follow him, but Ranger wouldn't let us. He grabbed the gun and said, " You take her back to the States and take care of her arrangements, spare no expense. I have business to take care of." Ram went to him and said, " Don't you want to be there for the services, man." Ranger looked at him with dead eyes and said, " She is dead because of me. Now all those cartel fuckers are going to die by my hand. I promised her." he turned around and walked off into the jungle.

Ranger's POV

From the minute I saw the look in Bobby's eyes, I knew she was gone, before he'd even said a word. I felt an intense range shoot uncontrollably through my body. In my rage, I lunged at Bobby, and beat the crap out of him. My rational mind knew that it wasn't his fault- that he'd tried desperately to save her. But my rational mind was gone, replaced with the part of my mind that had trusted him to save her. And he had failed.

The next thing I remember, Tank, Woody, and Ram were pulling me off of Bobby. My mind refused to believe that she was gone forever. Bobby must have been wrong. I had to see her for myself. My feelings were numb, by my mind knew that this wasn't Bobby's fault. It was mine. My babe was dead because of me- my enemies made her suffer horribly and killed her. My mind refused to believe she was dead.

Part of me didn't want to see her as she would be now. I wanted to remember her laughing and her blue eyes. But I had to see for myself. I couldn't trust anyone else with something that important. I owed it to her and to myself to make sure. I waited in a daze until Bobby let me go into the OR.

My mind rebelled at the thought that the still form on the table was Stephanie. My eyes went from her still form to the flat green line tracing endlessly across the EKG screen. I heard the soft click of the OR door closing and knew that they had left me alone. I went to her still form and took her still warm hand. I felt like I was in a daze- this wasn't me and Steph, this was someone else. Any minute now she would wake up, right? The monitor was just hooked up wrong. I studied her still form- her chest didn't move with breathing and when I laid my head to her, there was no heartbeat. Reality hit me like a tidal wave- Bobby wasn't wrong. She was gone.

I kissed her still lips and put my fingers in her hair. " God, Steph, I am sorry. This is all my fault. I am so sorry. This is why I was afraid to have a life with you. I am so sorry. " I felt myself break down into sobbing as I stroked her cheek. I am so sorry and I swear they will pay. " I kissed her one last time and said, " I love you. I will always love you." I hoped that wherever she was now, she knew that I loved her. I squeezed her hand again and left the room.

I had accepted that she was dead but I didn't want to be without her. I wanted to die without her. I didn't care if I did die. Buf first, they were all going to die. I went out and put on all the ammo that was left. I whispered to Tank to take care of her and give her a beautiful service- spare no expense. I wouldn't be there. I had business to attend to. The guys wanted to come help me, but this was something I had to do alone. She was dead because of me- my life didn't matter anymore. Avenging hers did.

Tank's POV

My eyes were red rimmed from unshed tears. Steph's service was beautiful, attended by all the rangemen, half the Trenton PD, and most of the Burg. They all came to pay tribute to the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. I hadn't seen or heard from Ranger in almost a week. But I kept seeing the headlines:

COLUMBIAN DRUG CARTELS MASSACRED BY LONE EXECUTIONER

Ranger was ridding the world of the scumbags who did this to Steph. She would be glad to know that the world would be a safer place now because of her.

It has been three weeks since Steph's funeral. I come every week to visit, as I promised Ranger I would. But no one had heard from Ranger. But every morning there is a fresh red rose on Steph's tombstone.


End file.
